‘Complicating’ compulsory purchase reforms take effect in England

Heidi Slater of Pinsent Masons was commenting after the latest tranche of reforms to the CPO regime took effect on Wednesday.

According to Slater, some of the reforms “sensibly align CPO practice with the realities of modern life”. She cited the ability authorities have now to serve CPO notices via email as an example, as well as changes that took effect in December 2025 that require CPOs to be publicised by authorities online. Further publicity rules regarding newspaper notices took effect on Wednesday – authorities now only need to set out a brief description of the land subject to the CPO, which may reduce the costs associated with lengthy notices identifying land through fulsome descriptions.

However, the cumulative effect of other reforms “add a stack of new pieces to the already complex and fragmented jigsaw puzzle that comprises CPO legislation”, Slater said. Among other things, she highlighted problems with the new "expedited" and more flexible process for general vesting declarations (GVDs).

GVDs are one way for authorities to take over ownership of land. Legislation enacted in 1981 sets out the process authorities must follow when seeking to execute and make GVDs. That process includes, among other things, a requirement on authorities to serve a ‘section 6 notice’ and to observe a three-month waiting period before change in legal ownership takes effect.

The new process allows for earlier vesting of unoccupied or derelict land, and land in unknown ownership. The new rules also enable earlier vesting by agreement between acquiring authorities and landowners. According to Slater, however, the new expedited procedure raises a raft of questions and introduces scope for debate about when its deployment is justifiable.

Slater said: “Coupled with the opportunity for representations to be made, this casts doubt on how much benefit it might actually bring, not least if ‘expediting’ the vesting date only means that it can be brought forward into the period between the end of the usual three-month minimum vesting period and a date no less than six weeks from the date on which service of the section 6 notices was completed. That's quite a small window of time gain, in exchange for the potentially headache-inducing prospect of having to observe a variety of different vesting dates applying across a patchwork of different land plots.”

“Not only does this flout the legislative intention at the heart of the GVD regime, introduced in 1981 as a new acquisition method characterised by coherence, clarity and authoritativeness; it also conjures up a disquieting vision of contractors having to build a game of hopscotch into their mobilisation programmes for start of works on site,” she said.

Slater said further complexity could arise from the concept of ‘conditional confirmation’ of CPOs, which was introduced as part of the December 2025 raft of reforms. Conditional confirmation of CPOs could, Slater said, be potentially helpful for schemes dependent on other steps falling into place, such as planning permission or confirmation of funding, but she said developers should be wary of “the devil in the detail of regulations yet to come”.

“Conditional confirmation of CPOs, for example, may simply enable the proverbial can to be kicked down the road, whilst at the same time giving objectors another opportunity to submit representations against the scheme reliant on the CPO, and acquiring authorities another hoop to jump through as they subsequently apply for a ‘fulfilment notice’ to confirm that the conditions have been met,” said Slater. “And what if, at that stage, the conditions aren't considered to have been met and a ‘fulfilment notice’ isn't granted? The CPO will 'expire' and we all go back to square one. Is this really a better way of managing risk?”

Other changes that took effect on Wednesday include changes relating to ‘hope value’ – a term that describes the possibility of land having a more valuable future use than the one earmarked by authorities pursuing compulsory purchase. The changes extend delegated powers to enable acquiring authorities to self-confirm CPOs which preclude hope value claims from landowners, and they also disallow hope value claims in respect of CPOs made on behalf of parish/town or community councils.

Another change to come into force on Wednesday is the new temporary possession power for CPOs made under the Highways Act 1980. This equalises the land use powers authorities have in respect of highway development with the temporary possession powers currently available under other statutory consenting regimes.

“For highway authorities, this will bring a welcome practical extension of their powers, allowing land to be used temporarily during scheme construction, and avoiding the need to acquire such land compulsorily, only to have to dispose of it once the temporary use has ended,” said Slater. “Conversely, for other acquiring authorities who are still counting on the coming into force of the temporary possession provisions in the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017, the wait continues.”