The Welsh Government (WG) is consulting on proposed reforms to Compulsory Purchase Powers (CPP) and its procedures in Wales.
This consultation follows on from the WG’s announcement on 18th October 2020 which gave County Councils additional powers to compulsory purchase empty homes and vacant land, if deemed to be in the public’s interest to do so. These reforms may impact on you in both a positive, neutral or a negative way. It might help to deliver the change in your community which has been lacking for so long – for example, a redundant building strategically located in a community – which is impacting your nearby business or property. Or it might take land/infrastructure from you for a project which you do not support and therefore is a negative.
The WG believes CPP powers are an important tool for local authorities and other bodies to assemble land and interests they need to deliver projects and change. The WG reports that the existing framework for CPP is complex and the proposed reforms aim to make the process fairer, more efficient and clearer.
Having read through the consultation document, the reform is mostly on procedural changes with very little of the proposed changes to assist the claimant. The key point to note is that the WG are seeking to encourage local authorities to use their existing powers more widely to support the delivery of certain development including housing and regeneration schemes. Some local authorities consider costs of undertaking a compulsory purchase order a barrier, one of the proposals in this consultation is to eliminate any Land Transaction Tax for land that the acquiring authority purchases.
Responses are required to the consultation document by 19th January 2021. To make your own representations follow this link. There are 26 specific consultation questions which make the consultation response somewhat easier to respond to. Baileys and Partners intend to make a response to the proposed reforms. If you would like Baileys and Partners to include your response within our submission then please do get in touch.
The Baileys and Partners team have a wealth of knowledge surrounding compulsory purchase matters and are experienced in working not only from the landowner’s perspective but also from the acquiring authorities’ perspective. Should you require a confidential chat with a member of the team concerning compulsory purchase then please do not hesitate to get in touch. In most circumstances the acquiring authority will meet reasonable surveyor’s fees.
