National specialist compulsory purchase solicitor, Michael Harman, comments upon the granting of a Development Consent Order (DCO) to Highways England in respect of the M3, Junction 9 improvements at Winnall, Winchester.
On 16th May 2024 National Highways obtained a Development Consent Order for improvement works to the M3 at Junction 9 (Winnall, Winchester). The works include, amongst other things, the widening of the M3 from 2- to 4-lanes, improved slip roads allowing for traffic to join the M3 more safely, and a gyratory layout with improved connectivity between the M3, A34, A33 and other local roads and rights of way. The scheme objectives include to reduce congestion and delays at Junction 9 on all links (M3, A33 and A34), improve safety for road users, improvements for walkers and cyclists (to include connecting National Cycle Network Route 23 currently severed by the junction) and facilitate economic growth in the area.
The project cost is an estimated £190 - £210 million with construction expected to start in early 2025 and all work completed prior to 2028.
More information about the scheme can be found through National Highways Information Portal.
As with any major infrastructure scheme, National Highways has identified the landowners the scheme will impact, either due to permanently requiring the land for the scheme itself, or due to temporarily requiring the land, or access to it, for preparatory and construction purposes. In the former instance, the granting of the DCO means Highways England now has powers of compulsory purchase in respect of the scheme and can begin the process of actioning the necessary purchases of land that the scheme requires. As the acquiring authority, there is no requirement on Highways England as to when they must action the compulsory purchases and therefore can action these according to their own project timeline.
Research by Holmes & Hills’ specialist compulsory purchase order solicitors identifies only a small number of private landowners still own land that is required by National Highways in order to progress the scheme. Much of the land required is already owned by National Highways. Nevertheless, for these small number of private landowners, following the granting of the DCO by the Transport Minister on 16th May, it is now imperative that specialist advice is sought to prepare for negotiation with Highways England in respect of the acquisition of, or imposition of rights over, their private land.
As one would expect, acquiring authorities are keen (and required) to maximise the value they deliver for taxpayers’ money, which means they are keen to acquire land and rights over land as cost effectively as possible. This clearly is not in the private landowners’ interests. To ensure they extract the maximum value from their land as possible, it is necessary for landowners to understand their legal rights when faced with an acquiring authority with compulsory purchase powers, whose initial offers are likely to be unsatisfactory to the landowner, sometimes materially so.
Private landowners impacted by national infrastructure schemes require expert legal advice from a specialist compulsory purchase solicitor to understand their legal position prior to engaging with an acquiring authority such as Highways England. The earlier in the lifecycle of a scheme that advice is sought, the greater may be the potential to 1) exert some control over engagement with, and sale to, the acquiring authority and/or 2) the creation and extraction of value in respect of the land by way of negotiated agreement with the acquiring authority, in this instance Highways England.
Once a private landowner has sought advice from a specialist compulsory purchase lawyer experienced in advising land and property owners in dealings with acquiring authorities, and preferably with the specific acquiring authority related to the scheme at hand (Highways England), it is likely, certainly in respect of a compulsory purchase, and potentially also in respect of the compulsory imposition of rights over land, that advice will also be required from a surveyor.
Holmes & Hills has a division of solicitors specialising in compulsory purchase matters. This division of solicitors focuses solely on advising land and property owners who are impacted by national, large scale infrastructure schemes progressing through the DCO and compulsory purchase order process. As one of only a small number of law firms with such expertise and given their experience of advising landowners in respect of schemes pertaining to energy (pylon schemes, solar farms), transportation (road networks, airports, railway lines), as well as large scale regeneration schemes, Holmes & Hills’ Compulsory Purchase and Development Consent Division advises land and property owners across the country impacted by a wide array of proposed and progressing schemes.
Holmes & Hills’ Compulsory Purchase and Development Consent Division is led by Michael Harman, Partner at Holmes & Hills and expert contentious planning law solicitor, specialising in development consent orders and compulsory purchase order matters. Michael is a member of the Compulsory Purchase Association, is individually recognised a sa specialist in his field by the Legal 500 – an independent directory of the UK’s leading law firms and lawyers – and contributes to the production of the leading publication on planning law published by Sweet & Maxwell, ‘Planning Law Practice and Precedents’.
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