One of the benefits of the CPO process is the use of section 237 TCPA 1990 which allows easements, covenants and other rights to be overridden as part of a CPO process to enable “building or other works to be erected, constructed, carried out or maintained” on the land where the land is held for planning purposes.
Case law (Thames Water Utilities v Oxford City Council [1999] 1 EGLR 167) has taken a limited view of the scope of the express wording of section 237 – holding that such rights are only overridden during the construction phase of a new development and not permanently for the new use of the site. The Thames Water case held that section 237 did not justify impliedly overriding such easements and other rights in the case of a material change of use (as distinct from the carrying out of the type of works set out in section 237).
Section 237 is changed from 6 April 2009 in England. Section 194 of the Planning Act 2008 inserts a new section 237(1A) into the TCPA 1990 to make it clear that both construction and use are now covered by section 237. (The change also applies to other bodies with similar acquisition powers such as urban development corporations, regional development agencies and the Homes and Communities Agency).