Closes 31 Mar 2025
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We provisionally propose that any future consolidation of compulsory purchase legislation should state expressly that a compulsory purchase order should not be authorised unless there is a compelling case in the public interest for the compulsory acquisition.
Do consultees agree?
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.22 to 2.24 of our consultation paper.
We provisionally propose that the separate procedures for the authorisation of compulsory purchase orders (in Part II of, and Schedule 1 to, the Acquisition of Land Act 1981) relating to orders made by Ministers and orders made by other bodies, should be amalgamated.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.27 to 2.30 of our consultation paper.
We invite consultees’ views as to the most appropriate terminology to be used in future consolidated legislation to describe the stages in the authorisation process for a compulsory purchase order. In particular, would it be best to describe an order as being:
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.32 to 2.37 of our consultation paper.
We invite consultees’ views as to whether a non-ministerial compulsory purchase order should be executed, as now, when it is “made”, or whether it should be executed at the end of the authorisation process, once the order has been modified (if applicable) and confirmed by the confirming authority.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.39 to 2.45 of our consultation paper.
We provisionally propose that when publicising the making of a compulsory purchase order by site notice, there should be an express obligation upon acquiring authorities (so far as reasonably practicable) to keep the notice in place for the duration of the objection period.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.47 to 2.50 of our consultation paper.
We invite consultees’ views as to whether the lack of an express role in section 16 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 for the confirming authority causes problems in practice.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.63 to 2.65 of our consultation paper.
We provisionally propose that section 31 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, which contains a power for the “appropriate Minister” to authorise (jointly with the confirming authority) the acquisition of a statutory undertaker’s land without a certificate under section 16, should be repealed.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.67 to 2.69 of our consultation paper.
We provisionally propose that section 17 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, which requires an order acquiring statutory undertakers’ or local authorities’ land to be subject to special parliamentary procedure in certain circumstances, should be repealed.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.71 to 2.76 of our consultation paper.
We invite consultees’ views as to whether the provisions of section 19 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 for the protection of common land etc. cause any problems in practice.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.78 to 2.81 of our consultation paper.
We have identified three possible options for reform (or not) of the statutory review procedure in Part IV of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981. These are:
We invite consultees’ views on their preferred option and the reasons for their preference.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.95 to 2.101 of our consultation paper.
We invite consultees’ views as to whether the statutory review procedure in Part IV of Acquisition of Land Act 1981 should be amended so that “persons aggrieved” by a decision to refuse to confirm a compulsory purchase order must use that procedure, instead of judicial review.
For more information relevant to this question, see paragraphs 2.103 to 2.106 of our consultation paper.