Neil Fox Way: £3.4m bypass compensation funding approved

Wakefield Council cabinet members agreed to allocate the money to settle claims over the Wakefield Eastern Relief Road (WERR), also called Neil Fox Way.

The local authority will now apply to West Yorkshire Combined Authority to recover the sum.

Matthew Morley, portfolio for planning and highway, told a meeting: “Rest assured that no Wakefield taxpayer money is going into this.

A total of 1,074 claims have been settled since the road opened in 2017.

The 5km highway connects Aberford Road in the north of the city to Doncaster Road in the south.

It was designed to ease congestion in the city centre and serve 2,500 new homes being built at City Fields.

Coun Morley added: “At the end of the day, this road has fetched much needed housing, jobs and it does bring council tax into this authority, year in year out. It will do that for many more years to come.”

When a new road is constructed, a compensation scheme is put in place to address the impact on land and property values.

Claims can be made under the Land Compensation Act for a six year period.

Settlements totalling £5.1m have been made, with a further £200,000 of payments likely before the claim period ends next month.

A council report said “insufficient budget was made available” to cover the cost of the claims which was higher than expected when the scheme was launched.

The report says: “The extent of claims that could arise as a result of the new road opening was uncertain at the time of the project and funding allocation.”

A consortium of developers involved in the road construction will contribute £300,000 towards the costs under a legal agreement.

Compensation claims have been made by residents living in areas including Eastmoor, Stanley, Stanley Ferry and Pinders Heath.

Claims can be made if a property value depreciates by more than £50 from the building of a new highway.

Under legislation, factors that can affect values include noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke and artificial lighting.

The overall cost of the bypass now stands at £35.9m.