Right to Regenerate
A little known, little used right to request Government to sell unused or underused public land to the private sector is to be considered for a relaunch by the Government.
Currently in a consultation phase lasting until 13 March 2021, this ‘Right to Regenerate’, if made law, would strengthen the existing system. At the moment, members of the public, businesses and local authorities can challenge the government to direct that land owned by central government departments (mainly City and Borough Councils) be disposed of where the land is underused or unused and the applicant believes that the land could be put to a better use, such as housing or to assist with business expansion and development. Since 2014, only 1 out of 192 applications have resulted in a disposal order, due probably to people being unaware of the right, the difficulty of showing that land is unused rather than held for a future purpose, and the fact that the scheme is voluntary. Government is not obliged to order a sale.
The current consultation seeks views on the usefulness of this current ‘Right to Contest’, and its potential reform to make it into a more appropriate ‘Right to Regenerate’. It will cover areas such as whether the right should be extended to cover town and parish councils as well as city and borough councils, whether it would be useful to encourage owners of unused sites to permit temporary uses where the owner has a plan for the not too near future, and should an order to dispose of land be made where there is no good reason not too.
Other considerations include whether the applicant should be given a time limited right of first refusal to acquire the site (this would improve the current situation where land ordered to be disposed simply goes straight onto the market without giving the applicant time to raise acquisition funds), and what type of conditions should be imposed on the sale. Conditions could include limiting the site’s future use, or imposing covenants.
If given more teeth, this could be a very useful way for individuals and businesses to acquire a wide variety of land for development or recreation.
The consultation survey can be accessed at
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/RighttoRegenerateconsultation/
Posted on 02/11/2021 by Ortolan
