The Neighbourhood Planning Bill

First announced in May 2016, the Neighbourhood Planning Bill was granted Royal Assent on April 27, 2017 and is one of the last pieces of legislation to be passed before Parliament was dissolved ahead of next month’s general election.

The Act looks to redress and reform the CPO process as well as make technical amendments to the Housing and Planning Act, which was introduced last year.

Key provisions of the Act include:

• Temporary possession: enabling an acquiring authority to take temporary possession for purposes connected with the potential CPO scheme, such as a construction compound or work site.
• Interest rates on unpaid compensation.
• Calculation of market value and codification of the “no scheme world”.  The calculation of compensation will be based on its open market value, assuming the scheme is cancelled.  Where a transport scheme allows regeneration, which is secured by a separate CPO, the value added by the transport scheme will be disregarded.
• Abolition of the “Bishopsgate Principle”: previously, an acquiring authority could assume that landlords would terminate a tenant’s interest at the earliest opportunity following a Notice to Treat, irrespective of what would happen in the “no scheme world,”  therefore reducing the level of compensation.  Regard must now be given to how long the tenant would have continued had there been no CPO.
• Time limits for confirmation notices: a statutory six-week time limit for an acquiring authority to issue notices confirming an order and bringing it into effect.  Previously, there was no statutory requirement.
• Greater London Authority and Transport for London—the Act gives the GLA and TfL the ability to promote joint CPOs for transport and regeneration purposes on one site.
• Blight Notices: an increase in the rateable value threshold for commercial properties from £34,800 to £36,000 and £44,200 inside Greater London.
• Compensation for temporary severance of land after vesting.

One issue initially considered but not implemented was the remedying of loss payments and the reversal of the Basic Loss Payment and Occupiers Loss Payment.  Tenants bear the burden of having to relocate their business, so they shoulder a greater cost burden than their landlord, yet the landlord receives a greater amount of compensation under the Basic Loss Payment.