Published Date: August 2018
Compulsory Purchase Association National Conference
On 11th July 2018, the Compulsory Purchase Association (CPA) held their annual conference. The CPA is a member organisation consisting of professionals who work within the niche specialism of Compulsory Purchase. All of the Surveyors at Sawyer Fielding are members and dedicate all of their time to Compulsory Purchase. The Association comprises predominantly of Surveyors, Solicitors, Town planners and accountants. The majority of the Surveyors within the association do not deal with residential properties and of those that do, nearly all will only work for acquiring authorities and their development partners. As such, our position of negotiating on behalf of homeowners affected by Compulsory Purchase Orders or the threat thereof is an unusual one within the association.
Our Director Dan Knowles MRICS presented on how best to deal with homeowners on Estate renewal schemes. The presentation was well received by an audience of approximately 320 professionals. Of his presentation, Dan said “there are too many people who work within our industry who have little understanding of how losing your home or investment property (Landlords) can affect people. All too often, we find acquiring authorities or their development partners who are naive to the realities of what living through Compulsory Purchase is like. That’s why I was pleased to be able to present to a large number of them, making suggestions on how regeneration schemes can be made fairer for homeowners and how community relations can be improved. Regeneration has become a swear word in many of the communities we deal with. It doesn’t need to be. If regeneration is done with the community rather than to them, the process can be far smoother”
On the back of the presentation, Dan has already been asked to present to a similar, but smaller scale event in Bristol and on another with a narrower focus, including estate regeneration. At Sawyer Fielding, we will always try to influence the decision makes on regeneration schemes. If they are going to happen, they should happen for the benefit of the community, not at their expense.