Crichel Down Rules meaning

In this issue: Environmental impact assessment Best consideration and the Crichel Down rules LexTalk®Planning: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Latest Q&As Related Documents Environmental impact assessment Supreme Court declares planning permission unlawful for not addressing downstream greenhouse gas emissions from oil production (R (Finch) v Surrey CC) In R (on the application of Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group) v Surrey County Council and others [2024] UKSC 20, the Supreme Court ruled, by a 3:2 majority, that consent for commercial oil production was unlawful because it failed to evaluate the ‘downstream’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that will inevitably occur when the refined fuel is burnt. The omission to assess downstream, or ‘Scope 3’, GHG emissions contravened the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations, which require decision-makers, for specified projects, to consider the ‘direct and indirect significant effects of a project’ on the climate. The court held that the...

Context When an acquiring authority intends, as part of a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to which the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 (ALA 1981) applies, to obtain any land or interests, or to create new rights over land that benefits from special protection, additional procedures and/or safeguards come into play. The protected land categories, and the processes that must be observed for each, are prescribed in ALA 1981, Pt III (for the acquisition of land or interests) and ALA 1981, Sch 3, Pt I (for securing rights by creating new rights) and are discussed below. In England, the Compulsory purchase process: guidance, and in Wales, the Compulsory Purchase in Wales and ‘The Crichel Down Rules (Wales Version 2020)’ (Circular 003/2019) (together, the CPO Guidance), provide advice on how those provisions should be applied in practice. It is crucial that land with special protection is identified early in the CPO process, and that negotiations with owners of such land begin promptly and in earnest, to secure the land/interests/rights by agreement....

Acquiring authorities frequently dispose of land obtained through compulsory purchase. This often follows their role in assembling the interests required to enable a scheme, after which, once the compulsory purchase order (CPO) is implemented, the land is passed to a developer to deliver the project. Sometimes, however, land taken via a CPO later proves surplus to requirements. In those circumstances, an acquiring authority may wish to, or be obliged to, dispose of the land. The Crichel Down Rules require that, in certain situations, surplus government land acquired by, or under the threat of, compulsion is offered back to former owners, their successors, or to sitting tenants. The Rules are non‑statutory, although, as noted below, the courts expect compliance where they apply. In England, the Crichel Down Rules are set out in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government guidance on ‘’ (the English Rules). In Wales, the Crichel Down Rules are contained in the Welsh Government guidance ‘Compulsory Purchase in Wales and the Crichel Down Rules’ (the Welsh...