Consolidation, codification and simplification of the existing compulsory purchase laws are required to improve accessibility.
That was the conclusion of the Law Commission, which today launched its Final Report on Compulsory Purchase Procedure (Law Com No 291) following a three-year review of the legislation.
The commission put forward 26 recommendations for legislative reform, spanning the entire process of compulsory acquisition, from authorisation and implementation to service of notices and abortive orders.
One of the most significant recommendations is that the three-year period under which a compulsory purchase order is exercisable should be reduced. The report suggests that the current period is too long, and leads to delays in land acquisition. Likewise, the period during which compensation claims are brought to the Lands Tribunal should, in the public interest, be reduced from six years to three to enable more efficient access to compensation.
The report is the commission’s second final report on compulsory purchase law. The first, on compensation (Law Com No 286), was published in December 2003 in response to the government’s July 2001 referral to the commission of the law on compulsory purchase.
Its recommendations, if adopted, will result in a welcome clarity and rationalisation of a law that is, according to law commissioner Stuart Bridge, “difficult to locate, complicated to decipher and elusive to apply”.
The commission hopes that the recommendations contained in both reports will be adopted by the government and rolled into the 2005 legislative timetable.
Copies of the Final Report on Compulsory Purchase Procedure are available at www.lawcom.gov.uk and a summary by Stuart Bridge of the report’s key recommendations will be published in Estates Gazette this Saturday, 18 September.
References: EGi Legal News 15/12/04
