Planning and Architecture

Compulsory Purchase Reform: post-consultation update

February 19, 2026 by planningarchitecture No Comments | Category Compulsory Purchase Order

Overview

Between September and December 2025, the Scottish Government consulted on a comprehensive package of proposals to reform and modernise Scotland’s compulsory purchase system. The consultation was part of our ongoing reform programme, the timescales and objectives of which were outlined in a previous blog.

In this blog we provide a brief update following the end of the consultation exercise and set out next steps ahead of the May 2026 Scottish Parliament elections. Although our analysis is still ongoing – and a more detailed summary of the responses will be published in due course – it is clear that there is widespread stakeholder backing for much of what we consulted on. Many of the proposals attracted overwhelming support and this blog offers an initial, high level overview of the feedback received.

In the coming months, we will complete our analysis of the responses and commission research on CPO compensation to further bolster our evidence base. These short-term actions will support additional policy development and help ensure the programme is in a position to move forward in the next Parliament, if compulsory purchase reform is considered a priority by the next Government.

The context

Compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) are a powerful tool which can help to deliver a wide variety of projects – both large and small – that would not otherwise come forward. This ranges from bringing empty or derelict properties back into use through to the delivery of major transport and energy infrastructure. In doing so, CPOs can support real change for Scotland’s people and places.

However, the consultation paper acknowledged that this potential is not currently being realised – and that many public bodies rarely, if ever, make use of the powers at their disposal. The existing system is based on legislation which is almost 200 years old, and is often seen as complex, opaque, costly and slow.

The Scottish Government wants to change this. The reforms proposed in the consultation are intended to provide the basis for a more effective, transparent and modern system: one which is simpler, swifter and fairer – and one which authorities make proactive and positive use of.

The consultation marked an important step towards realising these ambitions, and is intended to pave the way for a bill repealing existing primary legislation and replacing it with a brand new compulsory purchase statute for Scotland. The proposals were informed by more than a year of detailed policy development and stakeholder engagement, including with a practitioner advisory group co-chaired by Roseanna Cunningham and the Chief Planner.

The response

A total of 107 responses were received. This comprised 28 responses from individuals and 79 responses from organisations. Where respondents gave their permission, these have been published on the Citizen Space consultation hub. We are very grateful to all those who responded.

The consultation paper was a lengthy document, running to over 100 pages and containing more than 100 questions. This reflects the complexity of the subject matter and the comprehensive nature of the proposals. Furthermore, the consultation also contained questions on the separate issue of compulsory sale and lease orders (see below). It will therefore take some time to collate and fully analyse all of the feedback we received. The paragraphs and bullet points below provide an initial, quantitative snapshot; a more detailed summary of the consultation responses will be published in the coming months.

Responses came from a wide range of stakeholders, reflected a wide range of interests and encompassed a wide range of professional disciplines – including lawyers, surveyors, housing professionals, architects and planners. Among others, we heard from local authorities, infrastructure providers, housing developers, landowners, agricultural bodies as well as those with an interest in empty homes, land reform, active travel and heritage.

The headlines

Despite the breadth of stakeholder interest, there appears to be a degree of consensus around the need to reform Scotland’s compulsory purchase system and widespread support for the proposed direction of travel. For example, among those who responded to the relevant questions, there was:

• Near-universal (98%) support for bringing legislation governing compulsory purchase procedures and compensation into a single statute.
• Very strong support for giving authorities powers to create new rights in land (93%), take temporary possession of land (92%), and to enter land for the purposes of surveying etc prior to making a CPO (91%).
• Very strong support for CPO compensation being based on the principle of financial equivalence (93%) and for compensation being based on an assessment of market value (91%).
• Very strong (88%) agreement that the public interest test strikes a fair balance between public and private interests, and should remain policy-based.
• Strong support for empowering acquiring authorities to confirm unopposed CPOs (83%) and allowing CPO decisions to be delegated to Reporters (79%).
• Near-universal support (95%) for SG having to report on compliance with target timescales for issuing CPO decisions.
• Near-universal (98%) support for a single mechanism for implementing a confirmed CPO, by which an authority enters and takes possession of land.
• Near-universal support (95%+) for various proposals to digitise aspects of the CPO procedure.

The vast majority of the proposals were widely supported. The consultation contained 80 yes/no questions related to CPOs. Of these, around half (41) were agreed to by over 90% of those who responded, three-quarters of the questions (62) had over 80% agreement and only five questions had less than 50% in agreement.

A small number of the proposals were notably more contentious, with responses more sharply divided between those for and against what was proposed. For example, among those who responded to the relevant questions:

• Just under half (48%) were in favour of introducing powers that would enable land’s planning prospects (‘hope value’) to be disregarded when compensation for specific CPOs is calculated, while 52% were opposed to such measures.
• Considerable support (65%) was expressed for retaining Certificates of Appropriate Alternative Development (CAADs) but a substantial minority (35%) favoured their abolition.
• There was no clear consensus as to whether home loss payments should continue to be linked to market value (23%), based on a flat rate (49%) or graded according to how long a claimant has been in occupation (28%).
• Respondents were also divided regarding how farm loss payments should be calculated, although there was near-universal agreement (97%) that the current profit-based approach should be scrapped.

Compulsory sale and lease orders

Although not part of the CPO reform programme, the consultation included some high-level questions on compulsory sale orders (CSO) and compulsory lease orders (CLO). These questions were intended to inform further consideration of the justification and potential operation of such tools, noting the powers already available to local authorities.

Both CSO and CLO raise complex policy and legal questions which require careful consideration in light of the stakeholder feedback received. Separate analysis of the responses to these questions will be carried out, and the results of that analysis will be published as soon as practicable.

Next steps

The 2025 consultation was an important milestone, but significant work is still required if the Scottish Government’s compulsory purchase reform ambitions are to be realised. Most of the proposed reforms we consulted on would require primary legislation to implement. Subject to the outcome of the May 2026 election and the priorities of the new Government, the next major step would be the introduction of a Compulsory Purchase Bill in the next Parliament.

We are keen to maintain momentum so that the Scottish Government can continue to move the reform programme forward at pace if that is considered to be a priority by the next administration. In the short-term, we will carefully consider the consultation responses and use the feedback to inform further refinement of options. A summary of the consultation response will be published as soon as practicable.

We also consider that additional evidence is required to support further policy development in certain areas – most notably in respect of compensation. As noted above, divergent views were expressed in response to some of the measures proposed in the consultation. Further evidence is needed to help understand the potential impacts of different options and inform policy choices. We therefore plan to commission research focussed on building a stronger evidence base with regard to compensation and, as an additional short-term action, we will develop the specification for such research.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders and if you would like to discuss the compulsory purchase reform programme please get in touch at CPO.Reform@gov.scot.

Tags: Compulsory Purchase Reform

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