"The official factsheets speak of “fair compensation rather than inflated prices” and a “win-win” for the economy and the environment. The language is soothing. The reality is not.
Tucked away in clauses 83 to 92 of Part 5 is a provision that fundamentally rewrites the rules of compulsory purchase. Local authorities — district councils, county councils, even parish councils in certain circumstances — may now acquire land, including some of the most productive farmland in Europe, at “existing use” value, typically £8,000 to £13,500 an acre for prime arable. Once planning permission is secured, the same land can be resold at ‘hope’ value — anything from £500,000 to £1.5 million an acre, often far more. The uplift goes neither to the Treasury nor to the dispossessed farmer. It lands, unring-fenced, in the council’s bank account.
There is no duty to audit it, no obligation to spend it locally, and no legal barrier to diverting it elsewhere. In the wrong hands — and many councils are now hundreds of millions in the red — that is not a windfall. It is an invitation."


The Daily Sceptic
Labour's Plan to Turn England's Best Farmland Over to Developers is About to Come to Pass – The Daily Sceptic
Labour's plan to turn England's best farmland over to developers – while councils rake in millions from compulsory purchases – is abo...
