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Cold comfort for compulsory purchase victims 'The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, which has now received Royal Assent, represents one of the biggest threats to land and property owners in recent years,' says Mark Hudson, President of the Country Land & Business Association (CLA).
'Now local authorities have these extended powers, the Government must ensure that owners who are deprived of their property are properly compensated. The reforms recommended by the Law Commission last year must be acted upon as a matter of urgency.' It is extremely unfortunate that reform of the compensation laws was not properly addressed when the Bill progressed through Parliament. Only last month, in a case before the House of Lords concerning compulsory purchase compensation, Lord Nicholls emphasised the unsatisfactory state of the present law. He went on to say he fully supported the conclusion of Lord Justice Carnwath (when the same case was in the Court of Appeal): 'There can be few stronger candidates on the statute book for urgent reform, or simple repeal'. The new Act has far reaching implications for anyone who owns land or property, be it a small flat or a country estate. Under the new law, a local authority will only have to show that it 'thinks' the compulsory purchase of property would 'facilitate development'. Formerly, local authorities had to satisfy the far stricter test that the land is both suitable and required to achieve the desired objective. Mark Hudson said: 'If there is to be any fairness in the application of the Act, the Government must introduce the compensation reforms recommended by the Law Commission.' The new Act also looks set to spawn costly appeals. Mark Hudson said: 'We envisage that when these new powers come into force there will be a surge in local authorities taking privately owned land for whatever purpose happens to be in fashion, whether it is out of town supermarkets or traveller sites, or merely because they find a particular farm unsightly. 'Fortunately, the European Convention on Human Rights contains a requirement that a person's property can only be taken by the state if it can show that the acquisition is necessary. We therefore anticipate that it will not be long before the actions of local authorities are challenged in the courts, at considerable expense and inconvenience to all involved.' Mark Hudson concluded, 'It is extremely unfortunate that the Government has chosen to bring this about. If only it had given a little more thought to what it wanted, all this could have been avoided.' 14 May 2004 |
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More articles and documents [News Archive] [17 March 2008] GN45-03: Blight [Guidance notes] [28 November 2003] The Draft Compulsory Purchase (Inquiries Procedure) (Ministers) (Rules) 2006 [Consultation response archive] [13 February 2006] |
Christopher Price is the Director Policy and Advice at the CLA. He has overall responsibility for managing all the CLA's national policy and advisory work. He makes sure that the organisation's policy work is focused on what matters most, and that members' queries are dealt with accurately and efficiently. A planning and environmental lawyer by background, he joined the CLA as public law adviser in 2002. He became Chief Legal Advisor in 2007 and took up his current post a year later. Before coming to the CLA Christopher worked in local government for a number of different authorities.
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