Jennifer Campbell: CPO reform heading in right direction, but over-reach concerns cannot be dismissed

It would be a struggle to find a property professional in Scotland prepared to argue against the fact that the current consultation on reforming Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) in Scotland – due to finish this week, (December 19) just in time for Christmas – is long overdue.

The current legislation dates back to 1845, when new powers to take over land were created as railway mania swept the Victorian age. It continued to evolve through post-war planning and slum clearance through to today’s uses for housing and infrastructure projects.

It is mired in different statutes and complexities of case law and the consultation reflects this opacity, running to 134 pages and posing 122 different questions to divert interested parties’ minds from their Christmas shopping.

The aim of the proposed reforms is to establish a simpler, more streamlined and fairer system that enables the delivery of projects in the public interest while safeguarding individual rights and ensuring compensation.

It suggests five separate areas to be taken forward to the next available parliamentary session – enabling powers; early engagement and preparation; confirmation procedures; taking possession and title; and, crucially for those at the wrong end of action, compensation.

So far, so laudable. But what is nagging away at property professionals and those that they represent is an underlying suggestion of more control and more power for official bodies to the considerable detriment of land and property owners.

Not to put too fine a point on it, many in the sector feel that the tone of the consultation could be construed as a further trampling on private property rights which, for ages past, have always been held to be inviolable.

One such troubling element is the social engineering aspect of Compulsory Sales Orders (CSOs), which could force the sale of land for private development, such as social housing, or employment land as opposed to CPOs, which acquire land for specific public projects.

We have seen the example of a site in Fife, where a property owner was not receiving the purchase offers that he was expecting, so the local authority simply stepped in and put industrial units on it, citing the public interest test.

Or take the situation faced by many Scottish landowners, who are sitting on a number of properties, such as farm cottages, which they cannot afford to upgrade en bloc, but on which they are working to improve one at a time.

Under the new proposals, local authorities could force a sale and install a social tenant, without the landowner having any say in the matter. Councils could also do back-to-back deals, where acquired land was immediately sold on to a developer or housing association.

While there is no doubt that a lot of money will be thrown at this reform, it would be reassuring to feel that equal weight would be given to the right training for the officials who are likely to be in charge of imposing new orders.

People with long exposure to the field are all too aware that forced sales can be emotionally-charged – for example, a home which has been in the same family for generations – and past experience suggests that the empathetic element of training has been sadly neglected.

However, the emphasis in the consultation on early engagement is very positive. It is also felt to be vitally important to have an independent tribunal, with the requisite legal and administrative expertise, to rule on the granting of CPOs in the future.

In this digital age, the government naturally wants the proposed new system to be online, but that carries its own difficulties – imagine trying to scrutinise a complicated A3 map on your tablet – and there is a case to be made for all relevant documentation to continue to be printed as well.

As anyone who has interacted with the consultation will know, there is a lot to be digested, and concerns about over-reach cannot be lightly dismissed. A lot may be about to change in the immediate future and those affected should consider contacting DM Hall Chartered Surveyors, which has extensive experience in all related matters.