[2001] EWLands LCA_144_2000 (20 February 2001)
LCA/144/2000
LANDS TRIBUNAL ACT 1949
COMPENSATION – preliminary issue – disturbance payment – Land Compensation Act 1973 s 37 – advertisement site – claimant's right to occupy terminating on disposal of land – land acquired by urban development corporation – hoardings removed by corporation – whether claimant displaced in consequence of acquisition – whether corporation an authority possessing compulsory purchase powers – held claimant entitled to compensation
IN THE MATTER of a NOTICE OF REFERENCE
BETWEEN MILLS AND ALLEN LTD Claimant
and
COMMISSION FOR NEW TOWNS Compensating
(trading as ENGLISH PARTNERSHIPS) Authority
Re: Advertisement Site at Southwick Road/Black Road
Sunderland
Determination without a hearing
by: The President
The following cases are referred to in this decision:
Prasad v Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council [1983] Ch 333
R v Islington London Borough Council, ex parte Knight [1984] 1 WLR 205
Smith and Waverley Tailoring Co v Edinburgh District Council (No.2) [1980] RVR 23.
DECISION ON A PRELIMINARY ISSUE
"3.1 … the exclusive right to manage and promote the exploitation of commercial advertising on the advertising spaces situate within upon or comprising the Structures as listed …
3.2 … the right to develop any original proposals submitted by the Concessionaire for expanding commercial advertising …"
Clause 18 of the concession, dealing with the disposal of sites, provided in part:
"18.2.1 Nothing contained in this concession agreement shall restrict the right of the Board to dispose of the site on which any structure is erected.
18.2.1 Unless otherwise agreed by the Board the concessionaire will cease to have any interest or right in such site or structure upon the Board vacating the site pursuant to such disposal."
"(1) where a person is displaced from any land in consequence of –
(a) the acquisition of the land by an authority possessing compulsory purchase powers … he shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be entitled to receive a payment (hereafter referred to as a 'disturbance payment') from –
(i) where paragraph (a) above applies, the acquiring authority …
(2) A person shall not be entitled to a disturbance payment –
(a) in any case, unless he is in lawful possession of the land from which he is displaced;
(b) in a case within subsection (1)(a) above unless …
(i) he has no interest in the land for the acquisition or extinguishment of which he is (or if the acquisition or extinguishment were compulsory would be ) entitled to compensation under any other enactment…
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1) above a person shall not be treated as displaced in consequence of any such acquisition … as is mentioned in paragraph (a) … of that subsection unless he was in lawful possession of the land –
(a) in the case of land acquired under a compulsory purchase order, at the time when notice was first published of the making of the compulsory purchase order prior to its submission for confirmation …
(b) in the case of land acquired by agreement, at the time when the agreement was made …
(6) A disturbance payment shall carry interest, at the rate for the time being prescribed under section 32 of the Land Compensation Act 1961, from the date of displacement until payment."
" 'acquiring authority', in relation to an interest in land, means the person or body of persons by whom the interest is, or is proposed to be, acquired;
'authority possessing compulsory purchase powers', where it occurs otherwise than in relation to a transaction, means any person or body of persons who could be or have been authorised to acquire an interest in land compulsorily, and, in relation to any transaction, means any person or body of persons who could be or have been so authorised for the purposes for which the transaction is or was effected…"
"An urban development corporation may acquire (by agreement or, on being authorised to do so by the Secretary of State, compulsorily –
(a) land in the urban development areas …"
"38. (1) The amount of a disturbance payment shall be equal to –
(a) the reasonable expenses of the person entitled to the payment in removing from the land from which he displaced; and
(b) if he was carrying on a trade or business on that land, the loss he will sustain by reason of the disturbance of the trade or business consequent upon his having to quit the land.
(2) In estimating the loss of any person for the purposes of subsection (1)(b) above, regard shall be had to the period for which the land occupied by him may reasonably have been expected to be available for the purpose of his trade or business and to the availability of other land suitable for that purpose."
Dated 9 January 2001
George Bartlett QC, President
ADDENDUM ON COSTS
Dated 20 February 2001
George Bartlett QC, President