Compulsory Purchase Reform: Consultation Responses Summary

1. Introduction

Between 19 September and 19 December 2025, the Scottish Government carried out a consultation on proposals to reform and modernise Scotland’s compulsory purchase system, with a view to making it simpler, more streamlined and fairer.

This document summarises what respondents told us. It is not intended to be exhaustive: it sets out the key themes and messages emerging from the responses. Where respondents gave their permission, individual responses have been published in full on the Scottish Government’s consultation website.

A total of 107 responses were received. We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond to this consultation, which we recognise was a comparatively long and technical document. To assist with our analysis, respondents have been grouped according to the type of organisation, professional discipline or interest they represent – as per the categories below.

Although public consultations of this nature invite anyone to express their views, individuals and organisations with knowledge of (or interest in) the subject matter are more likely to respond. Hence respondents represent a small, self-selected sample of the population. The results therefore cannot be taken as representing the views of the general population or of particular sectors as a whole, although it should be recognised that the role of some of the respondents is to represent their sectors or professions more widely.

Fifty-eight responses were received via the online questionnaire and 49 by email. Some of those who responded by email followed the questionnaire format closely; others either responded with comments on particular topics, or just gave a general statement of their views. Some people who used the online questionnaire also used the free text boxes that were available to comment on other questions. The summaries for each question therefore refer to respondents’ comments, even where there was no provision for comments in the online questionnaire. Where email comments clearly support or oppose a particular point, these have been included in the numerical analysis as well.

Many respondents did not answer all the questions. Most questions received between 50 and 65 responses. The largest number of responses for any single question was 84, on question 1. Tables in this document show the percentage of support for each option in relation to the number of respondents who answered that particular question, rather than the total number of respondents.

For ease of reference, the remainder of this document follows the same structure and uses the same chapter headings as the September 2025 consultation paper.