The President has signed into law the Compulsory Purchase Orders (Extension of Time Limits) Act 2010. The Act has immediate effect and was introduced as an emergency piece of legislation to deal with a significant flaw in the law regarding compulsory purchase orders. (CPO's).

The Act amends section 217 (6) of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Under section 217(6), once An Bord Pleanála confirms a compulsory purchase order, the local authority has 18 months in which to serve notices to treat on any landowner affected. If they fail to do so, the CPO lapses. Where judicial review proceedings are taken the likely timeframe for reaching a conclusion means the CPO notices to treat may expire before the legal action concludes. The difficulty this presents is that the work undertaken and expense incurred by local authorities on schemes that go into judicial review but which are subsequently given the go-ahead, will then be redundant because the prescribed time period for the CPO has expired.

The Act now provides that the statutory time limit for the serving of Notices to Treat on landowners relating to confirmed CPO's can be extended where legal proceedings are underway.

Further details to follow.