The High Court has refused Cork County Council’s application to require a property arbitrator to state a question of law about the land covered by a compensation assessment. Mr Justice Allen found that the council had not established a real and substantial legal question about the arbitrator’s jurisdiction.
The dispute arose from a compulsory purchase order for a road development between Baile Bhuirne and Coolcour. The order covered two parcels of Sylvia Lynch’s property at Ballyverane, Macroom: 0.175 hectares of garden, including part of the main entrance, and 0.071 hectares of road bed.
After the council served a notice to treat in 2013, Lynch claimed compensation. A property arbitrator was nominated in July 2017 to determine the disputed compensation. The council later said it had redesigned the road to exclude part of the entrance and had undertaken to acquire a reduced total area of 0.226 hectares. It argued that the arbitrator should assess compensation on that basis.
Lynch disputed that she had agreed to the reduced land take. The arbitrator ruled that his remit was limited to the parcels in the notice to treat and refused the council’s request to state a case. The council then applied to the High Court, asking whether the arbitrator’s jurisdiction was confined to the notice to treat despite the alleged agreement and its undertaking.
Justice Allen held that the arbitrator’s authority came from the Reference Committee’s nomination, which was to determine the compensation dispute that existed when he was appointed. The court said the arbitrator’s jurisdiction did not extend to valuing a modified or reduced area, or to deciding disputed questions about whether the reduction had been agreed, requested or accepted by Lynch.
The judgment distinguished the UK authorities relied on by the council. Those cases concerned abandonment of compulsory purchase rights, the court said, and did not establish that an acquiring authority could vary the area covered by a compulsory purchase order. The High Court refused the application. It did not determine whether the parties had agreed to a reduced land take or whether the council could otherwise give effect to its undertaking.