Land Compensation Act 1961

Land Compensation Act 1961[a]
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to consolidate the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919, and certain other enactments relating to the assessment of compensation in respect of compulsory acquisitions of interests in land; to the withdrawal of notices to treat; and to the payment of additional compensation and of allowances in connection with such acquisitions or with certain sales by agreement of interests in land; with corrections and improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949
Citation9 & 10 Eliz. 2. c. 33
Territorial extent England and Wales[b]
Dates
Royal assent22 June 1961
Commencement1 August 1961[c]
Other legislation
AmendsSee § Repealed enactments
Amended by
Status: Amended
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended
Text of the Land Compensation Act 1961 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Land Compensation Act 1961 (9 & 10 Eliz. 2. c. 33) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which concerns English land law and compulsory purchase. The majority of this act was brought into force on 1 August 1961, with Part V s.42 coming into force on 22 July 1961.

The act consolidated several earlier acts of Parliament which concerned compensation for compulsory purchase, most notably the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 57).

The Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1963 made equivalent provisions for Scotland.

Contents

Part I – Determination of questions of disputed compensation

Section 1 provides that where land is acquired under compulsory purchase, any disputed compensation should be decided by the Upper Tribunal in accordance with this act, as amended by the Transfer of Tribunal Functions (Lands Tribunal and Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2009 (SI 2009/1307). Section 4A was inserted by the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

Part II – Provisions determining amount of compensation

Part II sets out the provisions which must be applied to determine the amount of compensation owed to owners of land which has been acquired under the compulsory purchase scheme. Section 5 Rule 2 provides that the owner of an interest in land (e.g. a freehold, leasehold, or easement as in Re Ellenborough Park[1]) should receive the open market value of the property.[2] This is defined as the "value of the land... if sold on an open market by a willing seller". The amount of compensation owed to the landowner is not affected by the land acquisition being compulsory, the special suitability of the land for a particular purpose or any unlawful existing use. However, this does not exclude additional compensation owed to the landowner for disturbance.

The Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 inserted an additional Rule 2A, which requires the compensation to be calculated in accordance with the no-scheme rules in sections 6A.[3] This codified the ruling in the case of Pointe Gourde Quarrying & Transport Co v Sub-Intendent of Crown Lands.[4] The Privy Council ruled that that compensation could not include any increases which were the result of the scheme for which the acquiring authority was purchasing the land. In addition, the no-scheme rules in the Act disregard any decrease in value which is the result of the scheme. The land must be valued as if there was never any scheme, and the valuers must imagine what developments would or would not have occurred in its place.[5]

The original planning assumptions in sections 14-17 of the act were amended by the Localism Act 2011. They allow land to be valued for its existing use, or valued by taking into account any planning permission which was in force on the valuation date, the potential future grant of planning permission, or appropriate alternative development.

Part III – Certification By planning authorities of appropriate alternative development

Section 17 says that either the acquiring authority or the landowner can ask the local planning authority for a certificate which states whether there is a development which would satisfy the test for appropriate alternative development.[6]

Part IV – Compensation where permission for additional development granted after acquisition

This part was omitted by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

Part V – Miscellaneous and general

Repealed enactments

Section 40(3) of the act repealed 14 enactments, listed in the fifth schedule to the act.[7]

Citation Short title Extent of repeal
9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 57 Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919 The whole act.
20 & 21 Geo. 5. c. 44 Land Drainage Act 1930 Subsection (5) of section forty-five.
2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 22 Camps Act 1939 Subsection (5) of section two.
7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 47 Town and Country Planning Act 1944 In the Fifth Schedule as applied by the New Towns Act 1946, paragraph 9.
9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 68 New Towns Act 1946 Subsection (7) of section four. In the Fourth Schedule, the entry relating to paragraph 9 of the Fifth Schedule to the Town and Country Planning Act 1944.
10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 51 Town and Country Planning Act 1947 Sections fifty, fifty-four, fifty-six, and fifty-seven. Subsection (2) of section one hundred and eighteen. The Seventh Schedule.
12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 42 Lands Tribunal Act 1949 In section one, in paragraph (5) of subsection (3), the words from "and is" to the end of the paragraph; in subsection (4), the words from "including the power" to the end of the subsection; and subsection (7). Subsection (7) of section three. Section five. In section seven, in subsection (1), the words "and is not contained in the Acquisition of Land Act". The First Schedule.
12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 84 War Damaged Sites Act 1949 In subsection (1) of section eight, the words "in a case to which the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919 applies," paragraph (6), and the word "and" preceding that paragraph.
12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 97 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 Subsection (3) of section one hundred and three.
1 & 2 Eliz. 2. c. 16 Town and Country Planning Act 1953 Subsection (1) of section three.
2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 72 Town and Country Planning Act 1954 Subsection (7) of section seventy-one.
5 & 6 Eliz. 2. c. 56 Housing Act 1957 In the Third Schedule, in paragraph 7, paragraph (5) of sub-paragraph (1); and in paragraph 8, the words in sub-paragraph (1) "and the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919" and sub-paragraph (2). In the Tenth Schedule, paragraph 2 of the entry relating to the Town and Country Planning Act 1944.
7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 25 Highways Act 1959 Subsection (8) of section two hundred and twenty-two.
7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 53 Town and Country Planning Act 1959 Part I except sections fourteen to sixteen. In section thirty-one, in subsection (4), paragraph (f). The First, Second and Third Schedules. In the Seventh Schedule, the entry relating to section fifty-four of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Section 42(1).
  2. ^ Section 42(3).
  3. ^ Section 42(1).

References

  1. ^ [1955] EWCA Civ 4, [1956] Ch 131
  2. ^ Barnes, Michael (2014). The Law of Compulsory Purchase and Compensation. Hart Publishing. p. 86. ISBN 9781849464482.
  3. ^ Denyer-Green, Barry (2018). Compulsory Purchase and Compensation. Routledge. ISBN 9781138617766.
  4. ^ Pointe Gourde Quarrying & Transport Co v Sub-Intendent of Crown Lands [1947] AC 565
  5. ^ Myers v Milton Keynes Development Corp [1974] 1 WLR 696
  6. ^ Plimmer, Frances (2008). "Compulsory Purchase and Compensation: an overview of the system in England and Wales". Nordic Journal of Surveying and Real Estate Research. 3: 144–163.
  7. ^ "Land Compensation Act 1961", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, Eliz2/9-10 c. 33

Bibliography

  • K. Gray and S. F. Gray, Land Law (7th edn 2011) Ch 11
  • K. Gray and S. Gray, ‘Private Property and Public Propriety’, in J McLean (ed), Property and the Constitution (Hart 1999) 36-7