By Roger PearsonJudgment day is set for Thursday, June 11 in a complex legal battle over compulsory purchase of land needed for the Shrewsbury bypass in Shropshire.
Nourse, Peter Gibson and Buxton LJJ are to rule on an Appeal Court bid by the Environment Secretary to overturn a High Court ruling last year centring on the compulsory purchase value of the land at Sundorne and Albrightlee Farm, Shrewsbury.
In 1992, in a bid to ascertain the value of the land, the owners sought local authority “alternative development” certificates with the aim of assessing the development value if it was not compulsorily acquired for the bypass.
The council certified that, in the absence of the bypass plan, consent would have been granted for residential and industrial development. It is that decision which has been at the centre of the on-going legal battle.
The DoE overruled the council when the Department of Transport, which is responsible for the bypass scheme, challenged the council decision. But when the land owners took the case to the High Court last year, Dyson J allowed their appeal against the the DoE ruling. Now, in the appeal to be decided on Thursday, the DoE has asked the Appeal Court to overturn that ruling.
Fletcher Estates (Harlescott) Ltd and others v Secretary of State for Environment and others – CA – (Nourse, Peter Gibson and Buxton LJJ)
(First instance decision: Queen’s Bench Division, Dyson J (10 June 1997).
PLS News 09/06/98
