No powers of compulsion

The Commission for the New Towns (CNT) granted the appellant a 125-year lease on a piece of land for £160 000. He planned to build a restaurant on the land.

However the local residents objected to the proposed development and the appellant was persuaded by the CNT to abandon it.

He did this on the basis that he would be granted an alternative site in the town. He therefore sold the land to another developer.

The appellant claimed rollover relief under TCGA 1992 s 247 on the disposal of the land on the basis that it had been compulsorily purchased.

Section 247 applies where land is disposed of to an ‘authority exercising or having compulsory powers’. The developer who bought the land had no compulsory powers so relief could only be given if the CNT had the authority to acquire...