New road to be built near country home

My Uncle lives in the countryside near a village. The council are by-passing the village and putting a road near his house. They are taking a corner from the garden of his house, even though the field beside him where the road is going is quite large. They are offering very little compensation. He was asking me what I thought he should do.

I suggested to him that he get a solicitor. They are builing the road at a diagonal to his house. I suggested that he ask for the diagonal piece of land in exchange for the land they are taking from him.

So what I am asking is - does anyone have any experience of this type of situation? If so - what would you advise doing? How are the council to deal with? Should he approach a counsellor?

Any help or advice (or even recommended solicitors - perhaps experts in this area) would be great. Thanks.

Is it the council or the NRA that are building it. I thought councils only dealt wiuth maintenance of secondary roads and the NRA did all the bypasses etc.

By-passes are being built all over the country and leaving some very unhappy property owners in their wake.
If there's a compulsory purchase order (CPO) placed on your uncle's property, his rights and ability to get a fair compensatory package will diminish as compared to say, his property going on the open market. Also, if part of a private house (inc garden) is taken, it is dealt with in a different manner than if the council are taking argicultural land. As well as that, he may discover that if the corner of his garden which is being taken will only form part of the verge or hard shoulder of the new road, his compensation will be less than if the new road surface will actually cross where his garden is.
Having some experience in such a situation, I would advise getting a good solicitor experienced in such matters working on your Uncle's behalf and also a professional valuer. Bear in mind though that such advice, while necessary, can be expensive. Double check whether those professional fees will be covered by the authority looking for the land and if so, to what extent. They may only intend to cover the professional fees for the actual transfer of ownership of the piece of land. You dont want to end up having any financial compensatory package swallowed up by professional fees. If the Council agree to pay fees, especially for a valuer, be confident that his/her advice is looking out for your Uncle's best interests, not just the easiest option for the Council.
The laws governing CPOs is grossly unfair, archaic and badly in need of reform.

The reason the council / NRA are taken the land from the garden as opposed to the field is because there must be some sort of constraint further along the road that the can't avoid, and the road must stay reasonably straight or have a smooth curve,

the route would be picked to minimse impacts on residential property and would generally try to stay in agricultural land which is cheaper than residential.

The price paid for the land is paid on the market value of the land. there is also the possibilty of compensation or works being carried out to accomodate your uncle. talk to the council and see what is being offered.

Would agree with Niall A above, generally a new road will be designed to try and impact the least on the surrounding area...........

At the end of the day a new road has to go somewhere, and through someones land - and will upset some people......

Get your uncle to sit down with the council and see what they're offering. If it's an NRA job they'd cover all fees for a vauler to work on your uncles behalf. This valuer would trash out a deal for the land required with the councils valuer....agree a price and other accomodation works such as prehaps a new wall etc. If the valuers can't come to some reasonable middle ground.....a case could be settled by an independent arbitrator.

Thanks a million for all the help. My Uncle is quite stressed about it all, so I look forward to offering him the advice offered here. I don't know if it's the NRA building the road. He says there is a bypass being built by the NRA on the other side of the village, but this road is being built by the council to accommodate a developer who has land near this new road and who is the friend of a local counselor.
One of his concerns also pertains to trees which he planted thirty years ago. He is a gardener and is quite partial, no - make that <i>extremely</i> partial to his plants etc.
I will pass on the suggestions made here to him.
Thanks again.

shnaek said:

One of his concerns also pertains to trees which he planted thirty years ago. He is a gardener and is quite partial, no - make that <i>extremely</i> partial to his plants etc.

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unfortunately, that is a problem that can't be solved easily.

i know of a case of organic farmers whose land is earmarked for a bypass. will gat paid for land, but any new land bought can't be used for organic farming for two years