Dickinson Dees - General - Newcastle,

Date: 05 Mar 2010

Is regeneration at risk as report reveals decrease in compulsory purchase orders?

Newcastle law firm reveals findings of most detailed report to date on the use of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) in the UK.

Dickinson Dees has published a groundbreaking report commissioned by The Northern Way, a partnership between three northern Regional Development Agencies, on the use of CPOs by local authorities over the last seven years.

At a recent Regeneration Momentum conference in Bradford, Frank Orr, planning expert at law firm Dickinson Dees, announced a marked decrease in the use of CPOs over the past twelve months. With the numbers of CPOs submitted at their lowest for several years, there is a risk that they may drop off the agenda as a tool to assist in delivering future regeneration in the region.

CPOs are used by local authorities and other bodies to compulsorily acquire land, often to ensure that redevelopment and regeneration initiatives can proceed. However, according to Dickinson Dees, the use of CPOs is down by almost 50% compared to 2008 - a stark reflection of the economic downturn.

Historically compulsory acquisition has received mixed press and can be perceived as a confrontational, complex and expensive process. However, notwithstanding the recent fall in usage, the report also highlights that compulsory purchase has very high success rates - with under 5% of Planning and Housing CPOs not being confirmed. Indeed for the North East, despite limited usage of CPOs, the region enjoys very high success rates compared to other regions in the UK.

With dwindling numbers of CPOs used by local authorities, comes the risk of losing the resource and skills base necessary to promote them, warns Mr Orr. CPOs are a vital tool for public sector acquisition of land and site assembly to deliver regeneration and can be used to reactivate private sector activity:

"With public sector spending cutbacks inevitable, local authorities should be reminded that CPOs are an effective tool for regeneration and that, if properly made, their success rates are generally very high. Economic recovery will in part depend upon reactivating private sector investment so the use of public sector compulsory purchase powers has a key role to play in this and must not be allowed to fall off the agenda for future regeneration."

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