Road being built behind house. Legal question.

[MrsMuddle]

I am in a street of about a dozen houses. It's a very quiet road, and is a dead end so not much traffic.

The council are building a new road to the read of our properties. We all have decent sized gardens, and they are building a wall to lessen any noise nuisance etc. Personally I'm not bothered either way - we have a derelict builders yard behind us at the moment, so it's not like it's being built on a nature reserve.

We have had many meetings with the council and the builders and I'm satisfied that they have taken our concerns into account and acted upon them. However, some of the neighbours are interested in claiming compensation for the "loss of amenity" that they feel this new road will bring. It's still under discussion, but basically we'll all do it together or not at all.

Does anyone know if we would have a claim, and if so, how we would go about it? We are in Scotland, BTW. Thanks.

[MrsMuddle]

anyone?

[SpangleMaker]

Hi, I'm really not an expert, but I believe there can be grounds for a claim if a property is blighted. That would have to be based on valuations from the council's valuation office. If noise proved to be a problem despite the noise barrier, they might be able to claim towards double glazing or other noise protection.

TBH from what you say it doesn't sound like the properties would be seriously blighted, in fact if the road opens up improved access to nearby town/commuter route it could even be seen to improve the value, which would offset the blight.

The council should be able to give advice about the process (even if it's not in their interest, they must be honest with you). TransportScotland may have a lands/property team who could help. Or a Citizens Advice Bureau?

[MrsMuddle]

Thank you. I don't think there would be much blight at all. The CAB is a good idea.

I think that we probably could get a couple of thousand pounds compo each (and it would be very welcome) but I also feel if there's no loss of amenity, getting money from the council is slightly immoral - it just means that they will have less money in their coffers to pay for services for people who need them. (I work in the voluntary sector and see the impact that council cuts have on vulnerable people, so I have a slightly jaundiced view.)

Unfortunately, I don't think my neighbours will see it the same way. They're very angry about the whole thing. They're mostly pensioners who have lived in the street all their lives.

[SpangleMaker]

Well, sometimes it's cheaper and easier to just pay a few £k to draw a line under things than the continued staff time and effort dealing with complaints and correspondence. But I'm very impressed that you take the long-sighted view, not many do!