15th December 2006, 07:50 PM
Its hardly occasional - in the normal commercial world the developer and the land owner are one and the same and are in agreement that the development should proceed and to do so have to satisfy the conditions imposed by the system. In the pipeline/energy statutory world the system is seeking evidence first of all about the proposed pipeline routes (and alternatives) from a developer who has to satisfy that request with evidence from "their" archaeologists in order to receive a consent which once approved gives the undertaker compulsory purchase rights over that route if they so require. There is a conflict in the authorising authority as the gas transporter is bound by statue to provide capacity in the transporter system and could be stripped of their licences if they are found by the government not to have provided this capacity!