Introduction
52.Without provision in the Act the authorised undertaker will not have any compulsory purchase powers to acquire land for construction of the railway and associated infrastructure, or to acquire rights in land e.g. for the purpose of re-routeing statutory undertakers’ apparatus. Provisions are therefore required in the Act to confer appropriate compulsory purchase powers.
53.The principal purposes for which compulsory purchase powers are needed are for the acquisition of:
land and rights to access land to construct and then maintain the railway;
land for pedestrian and vehicular access to premises;
land for replacement of fuel farm at Glasgow Airport;
land for road alterations; and
land for provision of recreational facilities, associated mitigation and landscaping.
The promoters have also identified land which the authorised undertaker will not need to acquire permanently but which will need to be used to allow temporary access or to be occupied temporarily during the construction period e.g. as construction sites. (In the Act temporary occupation is referred to as “temporary possession”.)
54.In many cases (roads and housing are examples) powers are given by compulsory purchase order made by the authority that is to have the powers, or by the relevant Minister. In the present case compulsory purchase is authorised by the Act itself: there will not be a separate compulsory purchase order. The compulsory purchase powers are in Part 2 of the Act, either set out in full or applying the compulsory purchase and compensation law that applies to compulsory purchase orders. This suite of provisions gives the authorised undertaker powers for the compulsory purchase of land and rights over land, access and temporary possession, all of which are needed in connection with the authorised works. It also deals with issues concerning compulsory purchase procedures, entry on land, the assessment of compensation and procedures relating to compensation, as well as the particular issues dealt with in specific sections of the Act. The effect of the provisions is explained in greater detail below.
55.The land affected by the compulsory purchase powers in the Act is the land described – that is, given a description and not merely referred to as an unused plot number – in the book of reference. On the Parliamentary plans it is all the land within the limits of deviation(1) and within the limits of land to be acquired or used(2).
56.The compulsory purchase powers conferred by the Act will enable the authorised undertaker to acquire the land necessary to construct the works authorised by the Act. In the absence of compulsory purchase powers this would not be possible if landowners refused to make their land available. The acquisition of land under compulsory powers (including purchase by agreement but where compulsory purchase powers have been conferred) also operates to extinguish all rights and claims which are inconsistent with the scheme and thus might inhibit the construction of the works. These include private rights of way as well as rights to maintain plant and equipment in the land.
For an explanation of “limits of deviation” see notes on section 4.
i.e. land situated outside the limits of deviation which is required to be acquired or used for specific purposes - see sections 12(b), 13, 14 and 16 and schedules 5 and 6.
