Compulsory Purchase Reform in Scotland

Overview

The Scottish Government wants compulsory purchase to fulfil its potential as a tool for delivering projects in the public interest – one that encourages authorities to make positive and proactive use of their powers, including in partnership with third parties. We want to reform the system to make it simpler, more streamlined and fairer for all parties.

Compulsory purchase is a powerful tool. It can help to deliver a wide range of projects – large and small – that would not otherwise happen. This can range from bringing individual empty homes back into use and the refurbishment of vacant or derelict properties, through to the delivery of major infrastructure and town centre redevelopment schemes.

Nevertheless, it must be recognised that compulsory purchase intrudes on people’s property rights: taking someone’s home or business is a serious step. The use of compulsory purchase powers therefore requires to be carefully considered and clearly justified. People must be able to understand the process, have opportunities to object and compensation must be fair.

The Scottish Government considers compulsory purchase to be an under-utilised tool. One of the fundamental reasons why it is not used more frequently to deliver public benefits is the current legal framework, which dates back almost 200 years. 

The Scottish Law Commission carried out an extensive review between 2014 and 2016. The Commission’s 2016 Final Report concluded that “the legislation is old, difficult to understand and does not work effectively in a modern context” and that those who the Commission consulted with: “took the view that the system, both procedurally and in relation to the award of compensation, does not operate fairly”.

This consultation therefore puts forward a package of options and proposals that would provide for a comprehensive reform and modernisation of Scotland's compulsory purchase system to make it fit for the 21st century. 

In developing the options and proposals contained in this consultation, we have engaged with a wide range of groups in the public, private and third sector. We also established the Practitioner Advisory Group (PAG) of technical specialists with first-hand experience of working with the system. We are grateful to everyone for their time and valuable insights.

This consultation also asks some questions about the potential for compulsory sales orders and compulsory lease orders, in Chapter 10.

Read the consultation paper 

We acknowledge that this is a technical and fairly long consultation document. That reflects the complexity of the subject matter, and our determination to take forward comprehensive reforms. The consultation paper provides full background details on the proposals.  There is a high-level overview of how the system works in chapter 2, and a glossary of terms at the end. 

A list of the questions can be found under the "Related" heading below.

If you have any further questions or would find further explanation of the process helpful, please get in touch at CPO.Reform@gov.scot