Mineral Rights & Land Development - Common Issues Explored

Introduction

Minerals and working rights are interests in land and are capable of being held under separate title to the surface. Both are considered freehold interests in land and ownership is often recorded separately at the Land Registry. Even if these rights not recorded separately, if minerals are owned by a third party the interest is either noted on the surface freehold or held as an unrecorded ‘overriding interest’.

Where a surface developer is aware of a severed mineral title the interest cannot be ignored and, in some cases, the mineral owner can either prevent the development occurring or claim trespass against a developer disturbing the mineral interest during the construction process.

Mineral issues can also be raised by local planning authorities if the development is within a Mineral Safeguarding Area (MSA). In a worst-case scenario a planning application will either be refused if it sterilises safeguarded minerals, or the developer will be required to prior extract the deposit before construction can begin.

This webinar is suitable for property developers (residential and commercial), solicitors and land agents.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Gain an understanding of the current legal definition of mines and mineral, where the law can be unclear, and recent case law that can provide a degree of certainty
• What action to take if a severed mineral owner claims that a proposed development will disturb their property interest, and the level of compensation usual in these cases
• Whether there are alternatives to paying a mineral owner not to object to a proposed development if the compensation required is consider too high
• The regulatory requirements that an applicant must address if the proposed development is within a Mineral Safeguarding Area
• What is a Mineral Resource Assessment and how can it be used resolve mineral safeguarding issues
• Where prior extraction of a safeguarded mineral resource can help facilitate a built development, and when this not be possible or cause significant delay to the project

This webinar was recorded on 17th January 2023