Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024

Recovery of compensation from acquiring authority on compulsory acquisition or sale

8 (1) This paragraph applies where—

(a) an interest in land is compulsorily acquired or is sold to an authority possessing compulsory purchase powers,

(b) a compensation notice is registered in respect of any of the land, whether before or after the completion of the acquisition or sale, and

(c) the compensation specified in the notice is payable in consequence of a change or revocation of an infrastructure consent order that was made before the service of the notice to treat, or the making of the contract, in pursuance of which the acquisition or sale is effected.

(2) The Welsh Ministers are entitled to recover from the acquiring authority an amount equal to the amount of the compensation specified in the compensation notice that is attributable to the land acquired or sold.

(See paragraph 6(7) for provision about calculating the amount of compensation that is attributable to a part of the land to which a compensation notice relates.).

(3) If, immediately after the completion of the acquisition or sale, a person other than the acquiring authority continues to have an interest in the land acquired or sold, the amount that is recoverable under this paragraph does not become payable until that interest either ceases to exist or becomes vested in the acquiring authority.

(4) No amount is recoverable under this paragraph in connection with the acquisition or sale if the Welsh Ministers are satisfied that the interest in question is being acquired for the purposes of the use of the land as an open space.

(5) A power under any enactment to pay a grant in respect of expenditure incurred by the acquiring authority in connection with the acquisition or sale includes the power to pay a grant in respect of any amount recoverable from the authority under this paragraph.

(6) In sub-paragraph (1)(a), “authority possessing compulsory purchase powers” means—

(a) a person who could be or has been authorised to acquire the interest in question compulsorily for the purpose for which the interest is sold, or

(b) a community council on whose behalf a county council or county borough council could be or has been authorised to acquire the interest for that purpose (see section 125 of the Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70)).

(7) In a case where a notice to treat is deemed to be served by virtue of an enactment, the reference in sub-paragraph (1)(c) to the service of the notice to treat is to be read as a reference to the date on which the notice is deemed to be served.

(8) For the purpose of assessment of compensation for the compulsory acquisition of an interest in land where a compensation notice relating to the land is registered under this Schedule, section 12 of the Land Compensation Act 1961 (c. 33) applies subject to any necessary modifications.