Richard Guyatt, Partner at leading law firm Bond Dickinson LLP, has been appointed the new Chair of the Compulsory Purchase Association (“CPA”) which he will hold for a 12 month term. The Association is a national organisation representing solicitors, barristers, surveyors, land referencers, planners and forensic accountants specialising in land assembly and compulsory purchase orders (“CPOs”), set up to promote best practice skills for all those who work in the sector.
Created in the early 2000s, the CPA has been an immensely successful organisation in its short history and now has about 650 members across the UK, including affiliate bodies in Northern Ireland and Scotland. It also fosters international links through its American counterpart, the International Right of Way Association.
Richard has been a committee member for five years and for most of that time he led the reform group for the association. He has been heavily involved in consultation with Government Departments, including on the compulsory purchase provisions of the Housing and Planning Bill, which was published this month.
Richard’s key aims for his term are promoting further reform to the CPO system, as well as fostering greater links with Government and other professional bodies involved in land assembly and development. Richard is also keen to engage in the “Young CPA”, the part of the organisation that fosters training and greater links for the junior members of the association.
Commenting on his appointment, Richard Guyatt, said: “The Association plays a key role in promoting reform to the CPO system. With proposed primary legislation published as a bill within 24 hours of becoming Chairman, my tenure has been very busy already and I have several regional meetings and Government consultations planned for the rest of 2015. During my term I hope to stimulate further change to the existing CPO system with a focus on strengthening our links with Westminster as well as continuing to encourage greater training opportunities for junior members of the association. I am keen also to learn from our international links, to see how we can better promote the process as a positive tool for change, whilst recognising and minimising the stress and disruption the process can cause.”
Earlier this year, a report by Bond Dickinson revealed that Planning CPOs, which are often deployed to facilitate complex large scale development projects, increased by two thirds in 2014 with 58 applications for Planning CPOs compared to just 36 in 2013.
