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13 J. Prop. Plan. & Env't L. 1 (2021)

handle is hein.journals/jppel13 and id is 1 raw text is: The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9407.htm Compulsory purchase and the compulsory purchase state redistribution of land A study of local authority-private developer contractual behaviour i Edward Mitchell School of Law, University of Essex, Colchester, UK Revis 3n 2 Accepted 24 January 2020 Abstract Purpose - The compulsory purchase of land forms the subject of much legal and urban regeneration research. However, there has been little examination of the contractual arrangements between local authorities and private sector property developers that often underpin the compulsory purchase process. This paper aims to examine local authority/private developer contractual behaviour in this context. Design/methodology/approach - An empirical examination of property development contracts made for the Silver Hill project in Winchester, a small city in southern England, and the Brent Cross shopping centre extension in north London. Drawing on Macneil's (1983) relational contract theory, the paper analyses key contract terms and reviews local authority documentation related to the implementation of those terms. Findings - The contracts had two purposes as follows: to provide a development and investment opportunity through the compulsory purchase and redistribution of private land; and to grant the private developers participating in the projects freedom to choose if they wished to take up that opportunity. While the contracts look highly relational, the scope for flexibility and reciprocity is both carefully planned and tightly controlled. This exposes an asymmetric power imbalance that emerges in and is rearticulated by this type of contractual arrangement. Originality/value - The empirical analysis of contract terms and contractual behaviour provides a rare opportunity to scrutinise the local authority-private developer relationship underpinning both property development practice and compulsory purchase. Keywords Compulsory purchase, Property development, Private profit, Financial viability, Private to private acquisitions, Relational contract theory Paper type Research paper Introduction This paper investigates the state's power to appropriate land in pursuit of private profit. David Harvey's (1999, 2003) well-known concept of accumulation by dispossession examines the tendency within capitalist societies to generate surpluses of commodities, money and labour without accompanying opportunities for the utilisation of those surpluses. State and corporate actors, Harvey (2003, p. 145) posits, address this by creating financial growth and investment opportunities by forcibly redistributing assets from one property owning class to another. The assets redistributed in this way often include land: if an existing owner or occupier refuses to part with the land that a private developer has earmarked for property development, the latter has no means to secure that land unless the Journal of Property, Planning and The author wishes to acknowledge the advice, comments and criticisms received from two colleagues Environmental Law at the University of Essex, Matt Stone and Maurice Sunkin. The author also wishes to thank the two Vol. 13-N16,f anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms in relation to the study. Views, errors and © EmeraldPublishing Licd omissions remain the author's own. DOI 10.1108/JPPEL07-2019-0041

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