One consent. Compulsory purchase powers, planning permission, listed building consent, highway works authority – all in a single document.
A Development Consent Order is how a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project actually gets permission to be built. It’s a single instrument that can carry an enormous amount of legal weight, and for anyone with land in a scheme’s path, knowing how the process works – and when to get involved – matters a great deal.
Here’s how a DCO is granted, what it can contain, and what it means for landowners along the way.
What is a DCO?
Introduced by the Planning Act 2008 in the wake of the protracted Heathrow Terminal 5 inquiry, the Development Consent Order was designed to replace a patchwork of separate applications – planning permission, compulsory purchase order, listed building consent, highway authorisations – with a single order covering everything a project needs. Rather than an applicant seeking each consent from a different body, one DCO application, examined by the Planning Inspectorate and decided by the Secretary of State, can grant the lot at once.
That consolidation is the whole point of the regime: fewer processes, one timetable, one decision.
What can a DCO actually contain?
Beyond planning permission for the development itself, a DCO can include powers relating to highway works, discharging water, surveying and investigating land, protecting buildings, felling trees and removing hedgerows, extinguishing or diverting public rights of way, and – significantly – land acquisition powers, including compulsory acquisition, the power to override easements, and the power to take temporary possession of land during construction.
In effect, a single DCO can do the legal work of several separate consents and orders that would otherwise each need their own application, their own consultation, and their own decision-maker.
How is a DCO granted? The six stages
The process runs through six defined stages, each with its own statutory timescale: pre-application, acceptance, pre-examination, examination, decision, and post-decision. It’s a front-loaded process – the applicant must fully scope the scheme and consult widely, including with statutory consultees, local authorities, landowners and tenants, and the public, before the application is even submitted for acceptance.
Once accepted, the Planning Inspectorate examines the application, typically over a period of months, before making a recommendation to the relevant Secretary of State, who takes the final decision. Government’s target for the whole process, from acceptance to decision, is around 12 to 15 months – a significant reduction from the multi-year timescales that preceded the 2008 Act.
How do you get a say?
Relevant local authorities automatically become Interested Parties. Anyone else – a landowner, a tenant, a member of the public – has to formally register as an Interested Party during a minimum 28-day registration window, which is what gives someone the right to submit written representations and request to speak during the examination. Missing that window is a real risk: registration isn’t a formality, and someone directly affected by a scheme who doesn’t register in time can lose their formal route to be heard.
What about compulsory acquisition specifically?
Sections 122 to 134 of the Planning Act 2008 set out both the ability to include compulsory acquisition powers within a DCO and the specific conditions that must be satisfied before those powers can be granted. A DCO’s compulsory acquisition function is legally separate from its planning function – the two are assessed against different tests, even though they’re delivered through the same order. Where the conditions are met, this route avoids the applicant needing to seek a separate, standalone compulsory purchase order.
How is this different from a standard CPO?
A conventional compulsory purchase order is a standalone process for one scheme, brought by one authority, under its own dedicated legislation. A DCO’s compulsory acquisition powers are one element within a much larger, bundled consent – so land might be compulsorily acquired as an incidental part of a decision that’s primarily about granting planning permission for the wider infrastructure scheme, rather than through a process that was ever solely about the acquisition itself.
Why does this matter for a transaction?
Because so much is decided within a single order, a DCO can affect a property in ways that wouldn’t show up through the usual routes: not just planning permission for a scheme nearby, but compulsory acquisition, rights of way extinguished, or temporary possession of land during construction, all authorised at once. As with NSIPs generally, this sits with the Planning Inspectorate’s national register rather than local authority planning records, so it’s a case where the standard local search won’t necessarily be the tool that reveals it. For any property near a proposed NSIP, checking the national infrastructure register – and understanding the Interested Party registration window if a client wants to have any say – is worth doing well before examination gets underway.
A DCO isn’t just a bigger planning permission. It’s a fundamentally different legal instrument, capable of granting compulsory acquisition powers, rights of way changes, and construction authorisations all in one document.
For anyone with land near a proposed NSIP, understanding what a DCO can do – and how narrow the window is to formally take part – matters well before a decision is ever made.
Some properties aren’t blighted by what’s happened. They’re blighted by what might.
A road scheme is proposed. A compulsory purchase power exists but hasn‘t been used. The property sits in limbo – too affected to sell at a fair price, not yet acquired by anyone. The blight notice exists for exactly that gap, and it works in a direction most people don’t expect: it lets the owner force the authority to buy.
Here’s how it works, and why it’s sometimes called “reverse compulsory purchase.“
What is a blight notice?
Sections 149 to 171 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allow a person with a qualifying interest in certain categories of land to require the relevant authority to purchase that interest. Rather than the authority initiating acquisition, as it would under a compulsory purchase order, the owner initiates it themselves. That reversal of the usual sequence is why the mechanism is commonly described as reverse compulsory purchase.
It exists to relieve a specific kind of hardship: land can become effectively unsellable, or only sellable at a heavily discounted price, once a planning or highway proposal makes clear that it may eventually be acquired or affected – long before any actual scheme, or any CPO, materialises. Without the blight notice route, an owner could be left in limbo for years, unable to sell at a fair price and with little certainty about when the position will be resolved.
What counts as “blighted land”?
Not every property near a proposal qualifies. The land has to fall within one of the specific categories set out in Schedule 13 of the Act – a list significantly amended by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 – which covers things like land allocated in development plans for public authority functions, land affected by highway schemes at defined stages, land within new town or urban development designations, and land where compulsory purchase powers exist but haven’t yet been exercised.
Being near a general area of planned change isn’t enough. The land has to sit within one of the defined statutory categories, which is a narrower test than it might first appear.
Who can serve one?
The right is limited to owner-occupiers, not investors or landlords generally. In practice that means: an owner-occupier of a private dwelling, an owner-occupier of business premises below a set rateable value threshold, an owner-occupier of an agricultural unit, a mortgage lender with the power to sell and give immediate possession, or the personal representative of someone who would have qualified before their death.
What do you have to show first?
Beyond the property falling within a blighted land category and the claimant holding a qualifying interest, the owner generally has to show they made reasonable efforts to sell the property and could only do so, if at all, at a price substantially lower than it would fetch without the blight. That “reasonable endeavours to sell” test sits at the heart of most claims.
There’s an exception. Where the relevant compulsory purchase powers remain exercisable over the land, the owner doesn’t need to demonstrate a failed sale attempt at all – the notice can proceed on that basis alone.
What happens once a notice is served?
The authority can accept the notice, or serve a counter-notice objecting to it on specified statutory grounds within two months. If the owner disagrees with a counter-notice, or with a rejection, they can refer the matter to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) within a further two months. Where a blight notice takes effect – whether by acceptance, tribunal determination, or the authority simply not responding in time – the authority becomes bound to purchase the interest, and compensation is assessed broadly as if the land had been compulsorily acquired.
How is this different from a Part 1 Land Compensation Act claim?
The two sit at opposite ends of the same problem. A Part 1 claim is made after public works are built and in use, for depreciation caused by their operation – noise, vibration, and the like – with no land changing hands. A blight notice is available before anything is built, in some cases before any scheme is even confirmed, and forces the outright purchase of the land itself rather than compensating for a fall in value while ownership continues.
Put another way: Part 1 compensates you for staying put next to something that now exists. A blight notice gets you out from under something that might.
Why does this matter for a transaction?
For a seller, a blight notice may be the only realistic route to a fair sale if a proposal has made the property genuinely unsellable on the open market. For a buyer, it’s worth knowing whether a seller has already served, or is eligible to serve, a blight notice on a property affected by a nearby scheme – because the availability of a blight notice can depend heavily on who owns and occupies the property at the relevant time, making timing an important consideration
Blight notices are a narrow, procedural remedy – but where a genuine Schedule 13 designation applies and a sale has failed because of it, they can be the difference between years in limbo and a fair, timely purchase.
Anywhere a planning or highway proposal has cast a long shadow over a property without yet delivering a scheme or a CPO, it’s worth asking whether that shadow meets the statutory test.
The conversation around upfront information is gathering pace.
The Government Home Buying and Selling Reform, industry collaboration and growing consumer expectations are all pointing towards a future where more property information is available earlier in the transaction process.
While the detail and timing of future reforms will continue to evolve, the direction of travel is becoming increasingly clear: better information, shared sooner, to support faster, more transparent and more certain property transactions.
For conveyancers, that presents an opportunity.
How can firms begin preparing for that future today while continuing to deliver efficient, informed and client-focused services?
That’s where Sales Pack Ready comes in.
Supporting better-informed transactions from the start
For many conveyancers, one of the biggest challenges in a transaction is dealing with issues that only emerge once a matter is already underway.
Whether it’s property-related risks, local considerations or information that triggers additional enquiries, late visibility can create delays, uncertainty and additional work for everyone involved.
Sales Pack Ready has been developed to help address that challenge.
By bringing together trusted property information at the earliest stage of a transaction, Sales Pack Ready helps conveyancers gain earlier visibility of important information and start transactions from a stronger foundation.
Why earlier information matters
The industry’s focus on upfront information is not simply about regulatory reform. It is about improving outcomes across the transaction chain.
Research referenced within HM Land Registry’s strategy identified that transaction fall-throughs cost sellers around £400 million every year across England and Wales.
While no single solution can eliminate every delay or failed transaction, the earlier key information is available, the greater the opportunity to identify issues sooner, support better informed decisions and reduce unnecessary surprises later in the process.
For conveyancers, that can mean more productive conversations with clients, earlier risk identification and greater confidence as transactions progress.
Designed for conveyancers
Sales Pack Ready helps conveyancers access trusted property information at the outset of a transaction, supporting a more informed approach from instruction onwards.
Benefits include:
- Earlier visibility of property-related issues and constraints
- Better-informed client conversations from the beginning
- Reduced reliance on information emerging later in the process
- Improved transaction readiness
- Greater confidence when progressing matters
Rather than changing the way conveyancers work, Sales Pack Ready is designed to help firms start with more information already available.
What’s included?
Sales Pack Ready brings together a bundle of trusted property information, including:
- Regulated Local Search
- Drainage & Water Search
- Homecheck Residential Report
Together, these provide an early view of potential risks, constraints and considerations that could affect a property transaction.
Supporting better collaboration across the transaction chain
While conveyancers are at the heart of the transaction process, the benefits of earlier information extend beyond the legal profession.
Estate agents can help sellers bring properties to market in a more informed and prepared position. Buyers gain greater transparency earlier in the process. Lenders and brokers can access important property insights sooner.
By helping make trusted property information available from the outset, Sales Pack Ready supports a more connected and collaborative approach across the transaction chain.
Why act now?
The move towards greater use of upfront information will be gradual, but the advantages of earlier access to trusted property information are relevant today.
At OneSearch, we believe that when innovation can help improve outcomes for conveyancers and their clients, it should be made available as early as possible. This gives firms time to understand emerging approaches, assess how they fit within existing processes and adopt change at a pace that works for them.
Sales Pack Ready provides a practical way to begin that journey today while preparing for the future direction of the property market.
A market ready for change
Rob Steadman, Sales Director, said:
“The industry’s ambition is clear: faster, more transparent and more certain property transactions. Achieving that starts with improving the availability of trusted information at the beginning of the process.
Sales Pack Ready helps conveyancers and property professionals take practical steps towards that future today. By bringing key property information together earlier, we’re helping firms become better prepared while supporting the direction of travel set by both industry and Government.“
Looking ahead
The move towards greater use of upfront information will not happen overnight.
However, momentum behind the Government Home Buying and Selling Reform continues to grow, and firms are already considering how they can adapt to changing expectations and evolving ways of working.
Sales Pack Ready offers a practical way for firms to begin preparing today while building confidence for the future.
As the market continues to evolve, OneSearch will remain a trusted partner to conveyancers, helping firms understand upcoming changes, adapt with confidence and realise the benefits of earlier access to trusted property information.
Find out more
Ready to take a more informed approach from instruction?
Speak to your Account Manager or contact the OneSearch team to learn more about how Sales Pack Ready can support your firm.
As a trusted partner to conveyancers, we’re here to help you prepare for and benefit from the opportunities created by the Government Home Buying and Selling Reform.
Landmark’s Q2 2026 Residential Property Trends Report shows a market that remains stable but restrained, with healthy stock levels helping to support activity while lower transaction volumes continue to point to a longer-term challenge for the sector.
While year-on-year comparisons are measured against an unusually strong 2025 baseline shaped by the Stamp Duty Land Tax deadline in March 2025, the data also highlights how affordability pressures and wider uncertainty are continuing to weigh on momentum.
In England and Wales, new property listings across Q2 were only marginally below last year at just 1% compared with Q2 2025, suggesting supply remains broadly steady. Encouragingly, June recorded the highest level of sold subject to contract (SSTC) volumes so far this year and finished just 4% below June 2025, despite Q2 SSTC volumes sitting 7% lower year-on-year.
Scotland saw a softer quarter, with listing volumes averaging 9% below Q2 2025. Sold subject to missives (SSTM) volumes were down 6% and completions were down 5% compared with Q2 2025, while registered sales in April and May were 3% lower year-on-year. Search activity remained broadly flat, suggesting activity has not withdrawn completely but is progressing at a more subdued pace.
Search order volumes in England and Wales were down 8% compared with Q2 2025, with activity peaking in March (up 15% YoY) before easing through the quarter rather than following the usual seasonal uplift. Viewed alongside resilient instruction volumes, this suggests buyers remain active but are taking longer to progress transactions as affordability pressures and market uncertainty influence confidence and decision-making.
Across both markets, the data points to underlying activity remaining present, but at more subdued levels and at a cautious pace. In Scotland, the Scottish Government’s first-time buyer support scheme could provide some impetus from Q4. However, lower transaction volumes remain a longer-term trend overall, reinforcing the need to address the friction and uncertainty that can slow progress from agreed sale to completion.
Longer transaction times continue to reinforce the need for greater speed, transparency and certainty across the homebuying and selling process in England and Wales.
Simon Brown, CEO, Landmark Information Group, said
“Our data for Q3 2026 demonstrates that the market remains resilient despite a challenging backdrop. Healthy stock levels and strengthening transaction pipelines show the appetite to move is still there, but affordability pressures and wider uncertainty are influencing how quickly buyers are progressing through the transaction process.”
“While Government and industry cannot control wider economic conditions, we can address the friction and uncertainty within the transaction process itself. As homebuying and selling reform progresses, the focus must be on creating a more transparent and predictable experience, in continued partnership with the sector, that gives consumers greater confidence to move. The data reinforces the need for a more connected homebuying and selling process, where better collaboration and the seamless flow of information help reduce delays, improve certainty and keep transactions progressing, regardless of wider market conditions.”
Read the full Q2 2026 Residential Property Trends Report for England & Wales here.
Learn more about the Project 28 Charter and the industry-wide commitment to faster, more certain property transactions here.
The property industry has long recognised the need for a faster, more transparent and more predictable homebuying process.
That’s why organisations from across the transaction chain have come together to support Project 28: A Charter for faster, more certain property transactions – an industry-wide initiative focused on reducing the time from sale agreed to exchange to just 28 days.
As part of that commitment, OneSearch has officially joined the Charter as a member, supporting its ambition to improve certainty, transparency and efficiency across the homebuying process.
The Charter was developed through unprecedented collaboration between estate agents, conveyancers, lenders, mortgage brokers and property data providers, all united behind a practical blueprint to improve the homebuying and selling process. Its focus is simple: reduce delays, improve transparency, encourage earlier access to key information and create greater certainty for everyone involved in a transaction.
For OneSearch, the Charter’s commitment to trusted data, upfront information and better collaboration across the transaction chain closely aligns with our own mission to help conveyancers make informed decisions quickly and confidently. As a member, we’re excited to play our part in helping drive positive, lasting change across the industry.
As Robert Steadman, Sales Director at OneSearch, explains:
“The initiative represents a significant opportunity for the industry to come together and accelerate positive change in the homebuying process. By improving access to trusted property information and encouraging greater collaboration across the transaction chain, we can help reduce delays, increase certainty and ultimately deliver better outcomes for consumers and property professionals alike. We’re proud to play our part in helping shape the future of property transactions.”
The challenges facing the homebuying process won’t be solved overnight, but the Charter represents an important step towards a more efficient, transparent and predictable future. By working together, the industry has a genuine opportunity to reduce friction, lower fall-through rates and improve the experience for buyers, sellers and property professionals alike.
To learn more about the Project 28 Charter and its eight commitments, visit the official Charter website.
Remote identity verification is now a routine part of conveyancing, but what it involves, and what makes it compliant, is not always clear.
Here is how the process works, what it covers, and what firms need to get right.
How has conveyancing moved to remote identity verification?
For much of conveyancing’s recent history, identity verification meant a face-to-face meeting, with documents examined in person, copies certified, and records updated manually. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a shift that was already underway, and remote identity verification has since become standard practice in many firms.
When implemented correctly, remote verification is not a compromise on security. Modern technology, including biometric matching, NFC chip reading, and liveness detection, can produce a more reliable result than manual document review, while also creating a clear and auditable digital record. Where processes are poorly designed or inconsistently applied, however, the risk increases. Documents may be accepted without proper scrutiny, checks may be incomplete, and audit trails may be insufficient.
Understanding what remote verification involves is essential to applying it correctly.
What does a compliant remote identity verification process include?
A compliant remote identity verification process covers three core elements, all of which must be present to meet the requirements of the Money Laundering Regulations and, for firms seeking HMLR Safe Harbour protection, Practice Guide 81.
The first is document verification, which confirms that the identity document is genuine. For Safe Harbour purposes, this involves reading the NFC chip embedded in biometric passports, EU and EEA identity cards, and UK biometric residence permits. The chip contains cryptographically signed data from the issuing authority, and verifying this data provides a level of assurance that cannot be achieved through visual inspection alone.
The second is biometric matching, which confirms that the person presenting the document is the individual shown on it. This is typically achieved by comparing a live image captured via a smartphone against the image stored on the document’s chip. The comparison is carried out algorithmically and provides a more consistent result than a manual check.
The third is liveness detection, which confirms that the image being captured is genuinely live. It ensures that the individual is physically present and not attempting to use a photograph, mask, or recorded video to impersonate someone else. This is a critical safeguard against increasingly sophisticated spoofing attempts.
What identity documents can be used for remote verification?
Not all identity documents support full remote digital verification. For the process to function correctly, and particularly for NFC chip reading, the document must contain an embedded chip.
The documents that meet this requirement include biometric passports, EU and EEA identity cards with biometric capability, and UK biometric residence permits. These allow the system to carry out full cryptographic verification.
Other documents, such as driving licences or non-biometric passports, can support identity checks but cannot be verified using NFC technology. For firms aiming to meet the HMLR Safe Harbour standard, a chip-enabled document is required.
What does the remote ID process look like for clients?
From the client’s perspective, the process is typically straightforward. They receive a link or access a secure portal, scan their identity document using their smartphone, capture a short video or image, and complete any required prompts. The process usually takes only a few minutes.
Behind the scenes, however, multiple checks are carried out simultaneously. The system performs NFC verification, biometric comparison, and liveness detection, cross-checking the results and flagging any inconsistencies. The outcome should be a clear, auditable record of the checks completed, including the results and timestamps.
This audit trail is important. The SRA expects firms to be able to demonstrate that identity checks were carried out, when they were completed, and what the outcome was.
What risks do firms need to manage with remote verification?
Remote verification introduces specific risks where processes are not properly designed or applied. Common issues include accepting documents that do not support full digital verification without recognising the limitation, relying on systems that do not carry out all required elements, and treating a verification report as the end of the process without reviewing its content.
It is also important to understand the scope of remote verification. It confirms identity, meaning that the individual is who they claim to be. It does not replace other AML requirements, such as source of funds checks, PEP and sanctions screening, or ongoing monitoring. These obligations continue throughout the life of the matter.
Remote identity verification should be seen as one component of a wider AML framework rather than a standalone solution. When all three elements are applied correctly, document verification, biometric matching, and liveness detection, the process can provide a high level of assurance and a clear audit trail. However, its effectiveness depends on how it is implemented and reviewed in practice.
Firms that treat remote verification as a complete solution risk overlooking the broader obligations that sit alongside it, while those that embed it within a structured and consistent process are better placed to meet both regulatory expectations and client needs.
