AC-2024-LON-001877 - [2025] EWHC 2132 (Admin)

The Second Defendant’s case for confirmation of the Order was that in order to facilitate the construction and delivery of the Scheme, they required full vacant possession of JRP, including the Premises. In the absence of an agreement with the Claimant for vacant possession or acquisition of the Premises, the Scheme could not be achieved without the use of compulsory purchase powers. The powers to take temporary possession of land for public works enacted under Part 2 of the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 were not yet in force. In the absence of either agreement with the Claimant for vacant possession of the Premises or the power to take temporary possession of the Premises, the Council had as a last resort exercised its powers of compulsory acquisition under section 226(1)(a) of the 1990 Act in order to facilitate the delivery of the Scheme.

The Claimant’s case was that the Premises were already vacant and she and her family living in temporary alternative accommodation. She remained willing to offer the Second Defendant a licence or other legal arrangement to allow access to the Premises for the purpose of undertaking the refurbishment works. There was no practical or commercial need for the Second Defendant to acquire her leasehold interest in order to deliver the Scheme.