Factsheet: Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Compulsory purchase reforms
Updated 19 September 2025
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What is the issue?
Compulsory purchase is the power to acquire land and property without the consent of the owner. It is an important tool to be used as a means of attracting new investment to town centres, bringing empty properties back into use, driving housing growth, facilitating infrastructure, and delivering positive changes for communities through regeneration.
To drive sustained economic growth, the government wants to improve land assembly by compulsory purchase powers. To achieve this, and to give authorities more confidence to use their powers, the government is committed to reforming the compulsory purchase process and compensation rules to build on the changes introduced by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
What does the Planning and Infrastructure Bill do?
The Bill aims to speed up decisions and delivery of public benefits through compulsory purchase by:
- delegating decisions on CPOs with directions removing hope value to authorities where there are no objections
- delegating decisions relating to directions for additional compensation to inspectors
- delegating decisions to authorities where certain categories of modifications are required to be made to CPOs where there are no objections
- delegating decisions on CPOs made under the New Towns Act 1981 (including those with hope value directions) to be made by inspectors
- allowing authorities to take earlier possession of land/property in certain circumstances under the general vesting declarations procedure
- ensuring the temporary possession provisions under the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 can be commenced for CPOs authorised under the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 and the New Towns Act 1981
- enabling authorities to take temporary possession of land under orders made under the Highways Act 1980
- introducing a power for Natural England to compulsory purchase land for the purposes of measures set out in an Environmental Delivery Plan
It also seeks to reduce the administrative costs of the statutory CPO process under the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 and compensation code by:
- allowing the electronic service of notices
- simplifying the information required to be included in newspaper notices about the making and confirmation of CPOs
Finally, it aims to ensure the balance of fairness in the assessment of compensation between authorities and landowners is fully considered by:
- extending the power to remove hope value from compensation by directions (introduced by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023) where town/parish or community councils are compulsorily purchasing land for affordable or social housing
- ensuring hope value is removed from the assessment of market value under loss payments compensation where CPOs with directions removing hope value are confirmed
- adjusting the balance of basic and occupier’s loss payments compensation in favour of occupiers
- excluding home loss payments compensation where certain statutory enforcement notices/orders have not been complied with
What else are we proposing?
The government will support authorities to use their compulsory purchase powers by:
- reviewing and updating its Guidance on Compulsory Purchase to reflect the measures introduced by the Bill
- funding the Law Commission’s consolidation of compulsory purchase law to make it easier for authorities to access and understand
- regularly updating the online register of CPO decisions issued by the Department (Compulsory purchase orders: Register of decisions) to help clarify misconceptions on the use of CPO powers
What does this mean in practice?
The measures in the Bill will make the compulsory purchase process faster and more efficient so authorities are incentivised to make use of it where appropriate to deliver benefits for communities. They also reinforce the principle that landowners should receive fair compensation to enable more land value to be retained by authorities via compulsory purchase and then reinvested in schemes for the public benefit.