Guidance

Acquisition of Land Act 1981: Section 19 Certificate Applications

Updated 18 January 2016

Applies to England and Wales

1. Notes for guidance for local authorities proposing to appropriate land forming part of a common or town or village green under section 229 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990

2. Background

An appropriation order under section 229 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (the 1990 Act), to appropriate land which forms part of a common, is subject to special parliamentary procedure unless the Secretary of State gives a certificate under section 19 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 (the 1981 Act). A copy of section 19 is attached.

3. The Appropriation Order

The National Planning Casework Unit NPCU@communities.gsi.gov.uk is responsible for confirming appropriation orders, and we strongly advise you to discuss your proposals with them, and with us, at draft stage. This is because we cannot modify a section 229 order once it has been made. There is no prescribed form for an order but you are advised to adapt the specimen forms attached:

• Form A, where you are making a related application under section19(1)(a), with exchange land given;
• Form B where the related application is under section 19(1)(b), with no exchange land given.

You may also find it helpful to refer to the Department for Communities and Local Government Guidance on Compulsory Purchase process and The Crichel Down Rules 2015 - which includes further general guidance on section 19.

4. The Certificate Application

Where land in an order is ‘common’, the application for a certificate should be made to the Planning Inspectorate’s Common Land Casework Team, at the address below. The procedure is set out in this note. ‘Common’ is defined in section 336 of the 1990 Act as including ‘any land subject to be enclosed under the Inclosure Acts 1845 to 1882, and any town or village green’. The definition therefore includes, but may go wider than, land registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965.

You should apply by letter, and enclose a copy of the draft order, schedule(s) and map(s). In most cases (other than where section 19(1)(aa) applies), you will want to include a clause for discharging the common land status from the common land plot(s) and, if applicable, vesting that status in the exchange land, as provided for by section 19(3) of the Act. If this clause is not included, then the order is unlikely to achieve its intended purpose and you may need Secretary of State consent under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006 before any works can be carried out on the land to be appropriated.

A sufficiently large scale (not less than 1:2500) Ordnance Survey based map should be used. This should show the common land plot(s) which you propose to appropriate in the context of the common as a whole, and in relation to any proposed exchange land. The common land plots should be coloured pink, the exchange land green, and the boundary of the common identified by a darker shade of green. If necessary, use additional maps to give the required level of detail.

Your letter should:

• say whether you are applying under section 19(1)(a), 19(1)(b) or 19(1)(aa);
• give the name of the common or green involved (including CL/VG number);
• give the plot numbers and their areas, in square metres;
• give details of any rights of common registered, and the extent to which they are exercised;
• state whether there are public rights of access for air and exercise to any of the land, and the extent to which they are exercised;
• explain the purpose of the appropriation;
• give details of any special provisions or restrictions affecting any of the land;
• provide any further information which supports the case for a certificate.

If you are applying under:

• section 19(1)(a) - say in what ways you consider the exchange land to be equally advantageous to the rights-holders and to the public;
• section 19(1)(b) – say whether the application is made on the basis that ‘the land does not exceed 209 square metres (250 square yards)’ or under the highway ‘widening or drainage’ criterion; and why you consider it unnecessary to give exchange land;
• section 19(1) (aa) – say how the appropriation will secure the preservation or improve the management of the land.

5. The application process

In most cases, an Inspector will inspect the site unaccompanied and make a preliminary appraisal of the merits of the proposal. If, after this, we are satisfied that a certificate could, in principle, be given, you will be asked to make the order and submit it to the NPCU for confirmation, and send a copy to us. We will then direct you to publish notice of our intention to give a certificate, asking for any representations to be sent to us. You are not required to advertise the order itself.

We will seek your written comments on any representations received but either we or the NPCU may decide to hold a public local inquiry if there are a lot of objections or the issues are particularly complex. Where an inquiry is held, the Inspector will summarise the evidence in a report and make a recommendation to us and/or the NPCU.

We will write to inform you and other interested parties of the outcome of your application. We must decline to give a certificate if we are not satisfied that the requirements of section 19 have been complied with.

If we give the certificate, it will be enclosed with the decision letter. As required by section 22 of the 1981 Act, we will direct you to publish a notice, based on Form 12 of the Compulsory Purchase of Land Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/2595), stating that the certificate has been given. We will also remind you to ensure that appropriate amendments are made to the Register of Common Land and/or Town and Village Greens.

The Commons Team
The Planning Inspectorate
3F Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
Bristol
BS1 6PN

Phone: 0303 444 5408