Regeneration Compulsory purchase of land
Compulsory purchase is the power to acquire land and property without the consent of the owner. It is an important tool for assembling land needed to help deliver developments which regenerate areas to deliver social, environmental and economic change. The Government introduced a number of reforms through the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 aimed at making the process clearer, faster and fairer. The Government’s High Street Strategy5, published in July 2021, emphasised the role of compulsory purchase as a catalyst for regeneration in town centres and high streets which are seeing persistent long-term empty properties, and where there are complex and fragmented land ownership patterns.
	The Act streamlines and modernises Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) and grants the power to local authorities to use CPO for regeneration purposes. These changes would empower local decision making and improve transparency regarding local authorities’ power to acquire brownfield land compulsorily for regeneration in their area.