Representation by Edmund Thornhil
- Date submitted
- 9 July 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Comments submitted by Lucie Muddiman (Savills (UK) Ltd) on behalf of Edward George William Thornhill ‘Edward Thornhill’ to: “Register to have your say about a national infrastructure project due by 14 July 2024” Land Parcels 5/8a1, 5/8a and 5/8b. 1.0 Preamble 1.1 My client brought The Grove to market in Autumn 2020, the Property consisted of a large house with grounds, swimming pool and paddock, in total 11.50 acres or thereabouts. At the time of marketing the A46 pre-consultation had begun and it had a negative impact on the marketing of property; potential buyers fed back concerns over the impact of the road scheme on the Property and on the paddock and having to deal with the Scheme. A sale for the whole was agreed at £1,150.000 (November 2020) but that buyer pulled out because of the potential road scheme. To prevent the sale being held up any further, the paddock of 7.219 acres (2.921 ha) (impacted by the scheme) was removed from the market, the property later sold without the paddock for £995,000. This has left the 7.219 acre paddock in my client’s ownership. 1.2 There have been two meetings between Savills, National Highways, Skanska, Mott Mac and the District Valuer ‘DV’ to discuss the acquisition of the remaining 7.219 acres land (14/12/22 and 29/11/23), Lucie Muddiman has also had Without Prejudice discussions with the DV separately. Following receipt of letter dated 25 October 2023 from National Highways ‘Invitation to Treat’ and our meetings above, we received the offer of an Option to purchase the additional land to the north of 5/8a1, 5/8a and 5/8b (in addition to these parcels) by agreement; we are progressing these discussions. Having reviewed the documents submitted for the DCO Examination our main points of concern are listed below. 2.0 Land to the North (2.29 acres / 0.926 ha) of 5/8a1, 5/8a and 5/8b not included in DCO Red Line Boundary 2.1 4.929 acres (1.99 ha) is included in the redline boundary for the scheme with 2.29 acres (0.93 ha) of the 7.219 acre (2.921 ha) paddock excluded. During our meetings National Highways indicated that they would acquire the 2.29 acres for Environmental Mitigation and we had expected to see it within the Red Line Boundary which it isn’t. 2.2 The 2.29 acres (0.93 ha) has not been included and whilst an offer has been received, it does not reflect the losses experienced from being unable to sell the paddock with The Grove. 2.3 My client does not have any other land in the area, it would be uneconomical for him to retain such a small paddock. If a sale by agreement cannot be reached we would look to compel National Highways to acquire. 2.4 As a result of the A46 the paddock would lose its road frontage, GENERAL ARRANGEMENT PLANS REGULATION 5(2)(o) SHEET 5 OF 7 shows the 2.29 acres of retained land being accessed by a newly created access track off Hargon Lane or from the old A46 at The Friendly farmer roundabout. If a suitable commercial agreement is not reached for the acquisition, my client would require an access (designed and agreed in conjunction with them) creating off the slip road to the Esso Service Station into their land. 3.0 Recommendation 3.1 Enter into commercial agreement for the acquisition of the 2.29 acres of land along with the land included in the Red Line boundary (4.929 acres), in total 7.219 acres of land.