Communities Secretary confirms estate regeneneration CPO following re-hearing

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government, James Brokenshire, has confirmed Southwark Council’s compulsory purchase order (CPO) for part of the Aylesbury Estate.

In doing so, the Secretary of State accepted the recommendation of the appointed inspector who held a four-week inquiry earlier this year.

The inquiry involved a full re-hearing of the merits of confirming the London Borough of Southwark (Aylesbury Estate Site 1B-1C) Compulsory Purchase Order.

The re-hearing arose as a consequence of the decision of Sajid Javid, Brokenshire’s predecessor, not to confirm the Order in September 2016, on the grounds that the council had not done enough to acquire the land at Aylesbury Estate by agreement. Javid also decided that the CPO would breach the human rights of the remaining leaseholders by forcing them to use their savings to buy a new property.

Javid’s decision was subsequently quashed by consent in May 2017 following a judicial review challenge by Southwark.

In the decision letter, Brokenshire concluded that the wellbeing of the area would “clearly benefit” from the confirmation of the CPO and completion of this phase of the Aylesbury Estate’s multi-phase regeneration.

Commenting on the decision, Francis Taylor Building - whose Melissa Murphy and Caroline Daly represented Southwark, instructed by the Director of Law and Democracy - said: “With regard to efforts to negotiate, the Secretary of State made reference to the Estate Regeneration National Strategy and its policy expectations in relation to the rehousing of leaseholders, and concluded that the council had taken reasonable steps to acquire all the necessary land interests by agreement, noting that agreement had been reached in respect of the acquisition of all but one leasehold property.

“In discharging the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Secretary of State referred to the range of rehousing options, including local options, that the council had made available, and the extensive engagement that it had undertaken with residents throughout the process. The Secretary of State concluded that the mitigation measures put in place by the council demonstrated that any negative impacts on those with protected characteristics had been adequately addressed and that reasonable steps had been taken to meet protected groups’ needs and mitigate residual disadvantage suffered, which would advance equality of opportunity and minimise discriminatory impact.”