Section 72 – Blighted land
233.Section 72 applies the planning blight provisions of Chapter 2 of Part 5 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (c.8). Those provisions enable persons with a qualifying interest in land to access the statutory provisions set out in the 1997 Act to allow them to claim blight on their qualifying interest in land and seek to have that land acquired by the Scottish Ministers.
234.The effect of section 72 is that:
a resident owner-occupier of a residential dwelling;
an owner-occupier of land with an annual value of £28,000(21); or
an owner-occupier of an agricultural unit,
whose land is subject to compulsory purchase under the Act may require the Scottish Minsters to purchase land at market value if , having tried to sell the property, the landowner has been unable to sell except at a lower price than might reasonably have been expected had the land not been subject to compulsory purchase.
The value is currently £28, 000 (Town and Country Planning (Limit of Annual Value) (Scotland) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/594)).