Law Commission consultation on compulsory purchase

Overview

This is a public consultation by the Law Commission for England and Wales.

​Compulsory purchase is a legal mechanism by which certain bodies can acquire land for the public good without the consent of the owner. Landowners also have a right to compensation. The ability to purchase land using compulsory powers is crucial for large-scale infrastructure projects, which are expected to increase, especially in light of the UK’s net zero targets. These powers are also needed for regenerating towns, cities, and providing housing. However, they can have significant negative impacts on affected individuals and businesses, so should only be used as a last resort when in the public interest. 

The law of compulsory purchase in England and Wales is fragmented, hard to access and in need of modernisation. In the early 2000s, this led to a three-year project by the Law Commission, Towards a Compulsory Purchase Code, which resulted in the publication of two reports dealing with compensation and procedure respectively. This consultation paper builds on these reports. It seeks views regarding the ways in which the law can be simplified, consolidated and modernised. It also looks at technical changes that may be needed to make the law fit for purpose.  

For more information about this project, click here.

We recommend that consultees read the consultation paper before responding to the consultation. A shorter summary is also available here in English and here in Welsh. 

Consultees do not need to answer all the questions if they are only interested in some aspects of the consultation.​

About the Law Commission: The Law Commission is a statutory body, created by the Law Commissions Act 1965 (“the 1965 Act”) for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law. It is an advisory Non Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The Law Commission is independent of Government. For more information about the Law Commission please click here.​

Responses to this consultation: We aim to be transparent in our decision-making, and to explain the basis on which we have reached conclusions. We may publish or disclose information you provide in response to Law Commission papers, including personal information. For example, we may publish an extract of your response in Law Commission publications, or publish the response itself. We may also share responses with Government. Additionally, we may be required to disclose the information, such as in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We will process your personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

Consultation responses are most effective where we are able to report which consultees responded to us, and what they said. If you consider that it is necessary for all or some of the information that you provide to be treated as confidential and so neither published nor disclosed, please contact us before sending it. Please limit the confidential material to the minimum, clearly identify it and explain why you want it to be confidential. We cannot guarantee that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances and an automatic disclaimer generated by your IT system will not be regarded as binding on the Law Commission.​

Alternatively, you may want your response to be anonymous. That means that we may refer to what you say in your response, but will not reveal that the information came from you. You might want your response to be anonymous because it contains sensitive information about you or your family, or because you are worried about other people knowing what you have said to us.​

We list who responded to our consultations in our reports. If you provide a confidential response your name will appear in that list. If your response is anonymous we will not include your name in the list unless you have given us permission to do so.​

For information about how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy notice. ​

Any queries can be directed to enquiries@lawcommission.gov.uk.