Part 9: Compulsory Purchase Compensation Section 190: Power to require prospects of planning permission to be ignored Background
This section inserts new section 15A and Schedule 2A into the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 and amends sections 7 and 14A of that Act. It also inserts new section 14A and Schedule 2A into the Land Compensation Act 1961 and amends Schedules 4 and 5 to the New Towns Act 1981. This section also makes consequential amendments to section 157 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
	The Acquisition of Land Act 1981 ("the 1981 Act") provides the process for the making and confirmation of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) and governs most compulsory purchase powers. Compulsory purchases under the New Towns Act 1981 provide an example of those governed by another Act.
	The Land Compensation Act 1961 ("the 1961 Act") provides the basic framework for the payment of compensation to an owner of an interest in land for the compulsory acquisition of their interest or its acquisition in certain other situations where there is deemed compulsory acquisition. Section 5 of the Land Compensation Act 1961 Act provides the rules for assessing compensation. This includes rule 2 that the value of the land shall, subject as further provided in the Act, be taken to be the amount which the land if sold in the open market by a willing seller might be expected to realise. This is to be assessed in light of the no-scheme principle set out in section 6A of the Land Compensation Act 1961 Act. Section 14 of the Land Compensation Act 1961 Act contains specific provisions for taking into account actual or prospective planning permission, including the effect of establishing appropriate alternative development, in assessing the value of the land if sold in the open market.
	The New Towns Act 1981 is an Act which brings together legislation relating to the establishment of New Towns.
	Section 157 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides special provisions relating to the payment of compensation for a compulsory purchase resulting from the serving of a blight notice.
	The changes implemented by this section allow, on a scheme-by-scheme basis and for certain types of CPOs only, certain public sector authorities to include in their CPOs a direction that certain aspects of section 14 of the 1961 Act, i.e. the prospects of planning permission (including appropriate alternative development), are to be ignored when the value of the land is assessed for compulsory purchase compensation purposes. Where a CPO which includes direction is confirmed by the Secretary of State in England, or the Welsh Ministers in Wales, the assessment of the value of land may only take account of:
any existing planning permission which is on force on the land, or
any prosect of planning permission being granted for the conversion of a single dwelling into a two or more separate dwellings.