Scottish Planning Series: Planning Circular 5 2011: Disposal of Surplus Government Land - The Crichel Down Rules

Introduction

1. This circular sets out the revised non-statutory arrangements known as the 'Crichel Down Rules' (the Rules) under which surplus Government land which was acquired by, or under a threat of, compulsion should be offered back to former owners and their successors (see Rules 12 and 13 below). For the sake of brevity, all bodies to whom any one or more of the Rules apply are referred to as 'departments', which includes UK Government Departments, Scottish Government Directorates, including Executive Agencies (and/or other non-departmental public bodies (" NDPBs")). See paragraphs 3 and 4 below. The Appendix gives more information.

2. These Rules apply to land and property in Scotland (hereafter, for the sake of brevity, referred to as 'land').

3. Detailed guidance on procedures to be followed by departments when disposing of surplus land are set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (Disposal of Property, Plant and Equipment) or, where applicable, the NHS Property Transactions Handbook, which are based upon the HM Treasury publication, Managing Public Money.

4. So far as local authorities and statutory undertakers are concerned, it is expected that they follow these Rules. It is recommended that the Rules are applied by bodies in the private sector to which public land holdings have been transferred, for example, on privatisation. Their approach when disposing of surplus land must, however, depend on their particular functions and circumstances. For instance, exception (5) under paragraph 15 below would, in the Scottish Ministers' view, apply to disposals by statutory bodies with specific primary rather than incidental functions to develop or redevelop land, and to disposals by their successor bodies. In such cases, land would only be subject to the Rules where it was without development potential and, therefore, genuinely surplus in relation to the purpose for which it was originally acquired.

5. It is the view of the Scottish Ministers that where land is to be transferred to another body which is to take over some or all of the functions or obligations of the department that currently owns the land, the transfer itself does not constitute a disposal for the purpose of the Rules. Disposals for the purposes of Partnership projects between public and private sector organisations do not fall within the Rules and the position of any land surplus once the project has been completed would be subject to the Partnership contract. Similarly, any disposals of property from legacy PPP/ PFI projects do not fall within the Rules and would be subject to the terms of the PPP/ PFI project.