Town and Country Planning Act 1990

Right to compensation

120 Right to compensation: general principles

Subject to the provisions of this Part, a person shall be entitled to compensation under this Part in respect of a planning decision by which planning permission for the carrying out of new development of land is refused, or is granted subject to conditions, if—

(a) at the time of the decision he is entitled to an interest in any land to which the decision relates which has an unexpended balance of established development value; and

(b) the value of that interest or, in the case of an interest extending to other land, the value of that interest in so far as it subsists in the land referred to in paragraph (a) is depreciated by the decision.

121 Planning decisions not ranking for compensation

(1) Compensation under this Part shall not be payable—

(a) in respect of the refusal of planning permission for any development which consists of or includes the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land; or

(b) in respect of any decision made on an application in pursuance of regulations under section 220 for consent to the display of advertisements.

(2) Compensation under this Part shall not be payable in respect of the imposition, on the granting of planning permission to develop land, of any condition relating to—

(a) the number or disposition of buildings on any land;

(b) the dimensions, design, structure or external appearance of any building, or the materials to be used in its construction;

(c) the manner in which any land is to be laid out for the purposes of the development, including the provision of facilities for the parking, loading, unloading or fuelling of vehicles on the land;

(d) the use of any buildings or other land; or

(e) the location or design of any means of access to a highway or the materials to be used in the construction of any such means of access,

or in respect of any condition subject to which permission is granted for the winning and working of minerals.

(3) In subsection (2) “means of access to a highway” does not include a service road.

(4) Compensation under this Part shall not be payable in respect of the application to any planning permission of any of the conditions referred to in sections 91 and 92.

(5) Subject to subsection (6), compensation under this Part shall not be payable in respect of the refusal of permission to develop land, if the reason or one of the reasons stated for the refusal is that development of the kind proposed would be premature by reference to either or both of the following matters, that is to say—

(a) the order of priority (if any) indicated in the development plan for the area in which the land is situated for development in that area;

(b) any existing deficiency in the provision of water supplies or sewerage services, and the period within which any such deficiency may reasonably be expected to be made good.

(6) Subsection (5) shall not apply if—

(a) the reason or one of the reasons stated as mentioned in that subsection is that the development would be premature by reference to the matters mentioned in paragraph (a) of that subsection, and

(b) the planning decision refusing the permission is made on an application made more than seven years after the date of a previous planning decision by which permission to develop the same land was refused for the same reason, or for reasons which included the same reason.

(7) Compensation under this Part shall not be payable in respect of the refusal of permission to develop land if the reason or one of the reasons stated for the refusal is that the land is unsuitable for the proposed development on account of its liability to flooding or to subsidence.

(8) For the purposes of this section, a planning decision by which permission to develop land is granted subject to a condition prohibiting development on a specified part of that land shall be treated as a decision refusing the permission with respect to that part.

122 No compensation if certain other development permitted

(1) Subject to subsection (2), compensation under this Part shall not be payable in respect of a planning decision by which permission is refused for the development of land if, notwithstanding that refusal, there is available with respect to that land planning permission for development to which this section applies.

(2) Where such permission is available with respect to part only of the land, this section shall have effect only in so far as the interest subsists in that part.

(3) Where a claim for compensation under this Part is made in respect of an interest in any land, planning permission for development to which this section applies shall be taken for the purposes of this section to be available with respect to that land or a part of it if, immediately before the Secretary of State gives notice of his findings in respect of that claim, there is in force with respect to that land, or that part of it, a grant of, or an undertaking by the Secretary of State to grant, planning permission for some such development, subject to no conditions other than such as are mentioned in section 121(2).

(4) This section applies to any development which—

(a) is of a residential, commercial or industrial character, and

(b) consists wholly or mainly of the construction of houses, flats, shop or office premises, or industrial buildings (including warehouses), or any combination of them.

123 Further exclusions from compensation

(1) Where an interest in any land has (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) been compulsorily acquired by, or sold to, an authority possessing compulsory purchase powers (other than statutory undertakers or the British Coal Corporation), that authority, and any person deriving title from that authority under a disposition made by that authority on or at any time after 1st July 1948, shall not be entitled to compensation under this Part in respect of a planning decision made after the service of the notice to treat or, as the case may be, after the making of the contract of sale by reason that the value of that interest, or of any interest created (whether immediately or derivatively) out of that interest, is depreciated by the decision.

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply to land which has at any time on or after 1st July 1948 (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) been appropriated by a local authority for a purpose for which the authority could have been authorised to acquire the land compulsorily as it applies to land in which an interest has been acquired as mentioned in that subsection, with the substitution for the reference to the service of the notice to treat of a reference to the appropriation.

(3) Where at the relevant date any land was or is operational land of statutory undertakers, or land of the British Coal Corporation of a class specified in regulations made under section 90 of the 1947 Act or under section 273 of the 1971 Act or under section 317 of this Act, the statutory undertakers or, as the case may be, the British Coal Corporation and any person deriving title from those undertakers or that Corporation shall not be entitled to compensation under this Part, in respect of a planning decision made after the relevant date, by reason that the value of any interest in that land is depreciated by that decision.

(4) In subsection (3) “the relevant date”—

(a) in relation to land which was such operational land or land of the British Coal Corporation as is mentioned in that subsection on 1st January 1955, means that day, and

(b) in relation to land which (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) became or becomes such operational land or land of the British Coal Corporation on a date subsequent to 1st January 1955, means that subsequent date.

(5) A person shall not be entitled to compensation under this Part in respect of depreciation of the value of an interest in land by a planning decision if he is entitled to compensation by virtue of section 108 in respect of depreciation of the value of that interest by that decision.

124 Grant of planning permission treated as subject to notional condition

(1) This section shall have effect where—

(a) on an application for planning permission for the carrying out of new development of land, a planning decision is made by which the permission is granted, whether unconditionally or subject to conditions; and

(b) the Secretary of State certifies that he is satisfied that particular buildings or works to which the application related were only included in it because the applicant had reason to believe that permission for the other development to which the application related (in this section referred to as “the principal development”) would not have been granted except subject to a condition requiring the erection or construction of those buildings or works.

(2) Where subsection (1) applies, then for the purposes of this Part—

(a) the application shall be deemed to have included, in the place of those buildings or works, such other development of the land on which the buildings or works were to be erected or constructed as might reasonably have been expected to have been included having regard to the principal development; and

(b) the permission shall be deemed to have been granted for the principal development subject to a condition requiring the erection or construction of those buildings or works.