Carter Jonas advised Canterbury City Council throughout the compulsory purchase process to deliver development on a long dilapidated site in the historic City Centre.  

The Council had resolved a number of title issues and secured a developer for the former Slatters Hotel site which had lain dormant and decaying for over a decade. However, to deliver the development, a strip of neighbouring land and clarification of rights over an adjacent service yard was required. 

Carter Jonas were appointed when negotiations broke down and the Council decided a CPO was the only way forward. We advised throughout the process, ensuring a robust case was established and evidenced and that Government guidance was followed from the outset. We recommended additional specialists to present evidence at the inquiry as well as providing expert witness evidence. We also worked closely with the developer and the Council’s legal team. All objections were withdrawn by the end of the inquiry and the Council was able to self-confirm the CPO saving several months on the programme. 

Our client said “Thank you for all your hard work, and for marshalling a disparate group of people into a unified body working with focus, driving us to achieve what needed to be done. The end is now in sight, and the development can progress unhindered.”