2 January 2025The government is seeking views on a range of proposals aimed at implementing technical reforms to make the compulsory purchase process quicker, reduce process costs, and ensure compensation rules are fairer.
The government wants to ‘maximise the opportunities for provision of vital development facilitating much-needed benefits in the public interest through delivery of housing, infrastructure, amenity, and transport improvements where the use of compulsory purchase powers is facilitating land assembly for those purposes.’ As part of this it proposes to make better use of underutilised land across the country by expanding the list of Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers, and ‘the associated acquiring authorities, in Schedule 2A to the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 where directions to remove hope value may be sought to include the CPO power under section 125 of the Local Government Act 1972’.
Section 125 allows CPOs to be made on behalf of town, parish and community councils by local authorities and the government has stated that it is aware that there is an appetite amongst some of these councils for a more proactive approach on using CPOs on their behalf. The government is therefore proposing that ‘CPOs made under section 125 of the Local Government Act 1972 on behalf of town and community councils should have the ability for directions to be included to remove hope value where the underlying schemes are facilitating affordable or social housing.’
Background information about the consultation can be found here.
You can respond to the consultation here.
Read Matthew Pennycook’s, Minister of State for Housing and Planning Labour, written statement on compulsory purchase reforms here.
The consultation closes on 13 February 2025.
