Member

Amendment 250 would deal with this by providing that bona fide purchasers of former open-space land and their successes in title are free from the burden of a statutory trust. Yes, it has retrospective effect, but only in response to the Day judgment, which itself retrospectively changed the understanding of how statutory trusts operate. It is far from unprecedented for Parliament to legislate with retrospective effect, either in response to a court judgment, for example, the Compensation Act 2006, which reversed the effect of Barker v Corus (UK) plc [2006] 2 AC 572 in relation to mesothelioma claims, or to deal with an important problem, a recent example being the Building Safety Act 2022, the retrospective effect of which has been upheld by the courts.