The 'missing pieces' of Ancoats' future - and their very mysterious owners

They are the plots of land that form the 'final pieces of the jigsaw' in the regeneration of Ancoats – but no one knows who owns them.

Most of the land which is primed for development in the area has already been bought up. However, the owners of three small plots on the Phoenix Ironworks site remain unidentified, eight years after developer Manchester Life first started buying up land behind Beehive Mill, where 256 homes are set to be built.

The company - which is owned by Manchester council and Manchester City FC owner Sheikh Mansour - says that 'all avenues have been exhausted' in efforts to trace the freeholders of the land, which it already has 811-year leases for.

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Now, the decision has been taken to take control of the remaining plots, on the site bounded by Naval Street, Poland Street, Jersey Street and Radium Street, using a compulsory purchase order.

Councillors signed off the start of this process at a town hall meeting on Wednesday (June 28) where they were told why these powers would be used. Manchester council's strategic director for growth and development Rebecca Heron said: "The council and its partners have assembled the vast majority of the land required, but there are three small plots that are unregistered freehold interests and they're also subject to restrictive covenants.

"Those outstanding interests need to be acquired to enable the development to progress. Whilst we would normally attempt to acquire those interests through negotiation, we're not able to identify the owners in this case, hence the recommendation for the CPO."

Labour councillors welcomed the plans, describing the development of the