The process of compulsory acquisition for the purposes of urban renewal and economic development are becoming more common as populations continue to grow in urban built up locations and more intensive users of land is warranted. the most practicable process for site assembly and the provision of higher and better uses of land may well be argued to be through the process of compulsory acquisition. This paper explores the hybrid use of compulsory acquisition powers for the taking of land by local government from one party and the reselling of that land to a developer for a more intensive and similar use. It contrasts the use of the Pointe Gourde principle between traditional public purposes and the emerging purpose of economic development in the assessment of compensation. Two cases are used defining the emerging purpose of economic development in Australia and the United Kingdom. A third case demonstrates a dichotomy between the compensation principles of assessing betterment in partial acquisition cases and contrasts this against the opposing principle used in total acquisitions in the specific circumstances of economic development. A model is developed which defines the dispossessed party as a stakeholder in the economic development of land, in which consent for the defined purpose of economic development is a natural progressive step in defining the highest and best use of land
