Lands tribunal

Purfleet Farms Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (CA TLR 7 November)

The principles underlying the exercise of discretion of the Lands Tribunal in making a costs award, where it has ordered compensation to be paid on the compulsory purchase of land, are not the same as those applicable to an award of costs in civil litigation under the CPR. Despite the similarities in procedure, a compensation reference before the Lands Tribunal did not itself constitute ordinary litigation and for the present at least, remained outside the purview of the CPR. In the Lands Tribunal a successful claimant should be entitled to his costs incurred in the proceedings in the absence of some special reason to the contrary. Whether such special reason existed was a matter of judgment for the tribunal.