	CMS\| Home \|Contact \|Locations All CMS Offices CMS Cameron McKenna Offices \|Law-Now
	Social Media \|

News & Media

Overview
News

News Detail

Publications

Brochures

Print page Send to a Friend

CMS achieves landmark victory for Sainsbury's in the Supreme Court

Date: 12/05/2010

The Planning Team at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP has today (12 May 2010), secured a landmark victory in the new Supreme Court for key account Sainsbury's in a long running battle with Tesco. This is CMS' first case in that Court, which took over from the old House of Lords. This case was also one of the first to be heard by seven Justices in the Supreme Court.

This is now the leading judgment on use of compulsory purchase powers and connected planning agreements.

The case concerned a decision by Wolverhampton City Council to use compulsory purchase powers to acquire Sainsbury's majority land holding in a site, in order to facilitate a rival retail development by Tesco on the same site. The Council based this decision on an offer by Tesco to cross-subsidise the redevelopment of an unconnected listed building. The Court decided it was wrong to use a wholly unconnected development as a reason to take Sainsbury's land.

This decision comes at the end of two years of litigation over this strategic site.

Ashley Damiral, who ran the case for CMS Cameron McKenna comments “This judgment will have far reaching consequences for regeneration schemes across the country that involve the use of local authority compulsory purchase powers for planning purposes. The judgment defines the scope of planning compulsory purchase powers, with reference to planning obligations principles. It also makes clear that compulsory purchase and related land disposal decisions by a local authority must be taken separately.”

The Planning team at CMS Cameron McKenna, led by Chris Williams, regularly advises on complex planning proposals, including some of the most recent high profile infrastructure projects in the country. Chris comments “We are absolutely delighted with this outcome and to have been able to support long-standing client Sainsbury’s in achieving this positive result.”

For your online legal updates

Media Contacts

Nicola Stokes
+44 (0)207 367 3495
nicola.stokes@cms-cmck.com

Subscribe to our RSS feeds