Relief road leads to compensation rush

10:32am Wednesday 8th October 2008

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MORE than 100 people have applied for compensation because they fear the value of their homes will be hit by the new £84 million Weymouth relief road.

Surveyors Samuel Rose of Northampton has been offering a free land compensation service to people who feel their homes may be affected.

And the firm expects more homeowners to come forward. Claims administrator John Sullivan said: "We mailed the area to see what the response would be and more than 100 people have already come forward to ask us to act for them.

"This includes people from homes along the whole length of Weymouth relief road from Manor Roundabout to Ridgeway.

"Those claims are being submitted to Dorset County Council and we will then hold negotiations with the authority."

Work on the relief road carriageway is expected to be finished in October 2010 with the whole scheme completed in 2011.

Mr Sullivan said people would be entitled to claim for a loss in the value of their home caused by traffic queues, noise, dust or vibration on the new road.

He added: "Typically these claims will be looked at about a year or more after the road opens so any effect can be judged."

He added early signs were that there would be an above average number of claims.

He said: "We have handled similar land compensation claims before and in our opinion this has been an above average response so far for such a scheme.

"We have since advertised our services in the Dorset Echo and we are expecting more claimants to come forward.

"Any claim found to be justified would be settled by payment from the county council as highways authority."

Samuel Rose is not yet sure how much compensation people may be able to claim.

A spokesman for Dorset County Council said: "There are strict Government guidelines with regard to compensation and the county council will be advising residents about their rights at our relief road exhibitions which start on Saturday.

"We will also be able to give them information regarding potential claims and we are happy and willing to talk to any concerned resident about any issues that they would like answering."

The authority has already issued a rough schedule for the long-awaited scheme which includes drainage, remediation, earthworks, Littlemoor Bridge and retaining walls all due to be completed by October 2009.

When workmen get back on site after a winter break there will be more drainage and bridge work, earthworks, a park and ride facility and pavements created before the main carriageway opens in October 2010. In 2011 work moves to modify the old A354 Bincombe to Ridgeway road.