Prior cumpulsory purchase order of garden ground

[bumperella]

Several years ago (about 18 years?) part of our garden was purchased under a CPO to re-route a road; the council refuses to sell it back to us but equally has no plans to do the road works for at least 10 years (no money).
The garden boundary was changed by the council (re-plated a hedge) so the bit the council own became part of a 15-acre field. The field has since been purchased and a large house built on it.

I've asked the council if we can use the land (that used to be ours), or lease it from them, basically to grow short-term veg etc, but they say no.

However the owners of new house use the land as if is their own, to which the council turns a blind eye, even though some of the changes are permanent (eg field drainage chanels etc).

To me this seems ridiculously unfair, but is their anythign I can actually DO about it?

Surely since they have purchased it it is no longer yours to use?

Yes - if the land has been subject to a CPO but doesn't get used for the CPO reason the party from whom the land was bought has first right of refusal. It is called Crichton Downs or something similar which escapes me.

Exactly, RedHelenB it's not ours anymore. That's why I want to lease it from them until they do want to use it: I'm not expecting to be gifted it back or anything. I've actually seen the Crichton Downs rules, but can't find any reference to how long they can take to decide to use the land?

They refuse to lease it or allow us to use it, which is up to them (if a stupid waste of a small amount of potential income). BUT they allow neighbouring property to use it for free, even though that usage involves long-term/permanent change, and is unrelated to the reason the CPO was made. Neighbour only started doing stuff with the land recently, a couple of years after I first approached council re: leasing it. I've asked council about selling it/leasing it again and they've refused, again, again no reason given.

I can't believe that this is something they (the council) are allowed to do. But where do I go from here?