[2023] UKUT 214 (LC)

The property is a detached three bedroom house of brick under tile, situated on an estate of similar houses built in the mid 1990s. It originally had four bedrooms, two of which have since been adapted to provide one larger room and storage space. The ground floor provides a lounge, dining room, large kitchen and WC. A single storey brick extension, used as a study, has been added to the dining room at the rear. The integral garage has been divided into a general storage area and a utility room. The small rear garden is landscaped to provide lawn, borders, paved sitting areas and a summer house.

A gate in the garden fence gives access to the land behind, on which Pioneer Way has been constructed. The claimant said that he had for many years used the strip of land running outside his garden fence for growing vegetables. A path used to run up the edge of the field beyond the gardens and the land had at one time been used as allotments.

The first plan below shows the location of the property (39) at the bottom right corner of existing development and its proximity to the new road Pioneer Way. The shaded section is the spur adopted by the Council, constructed as a standard carriageway with a footway on each side. The position of two street lamps, described as “modern low lighting columns with directional LED illumination”, is shown as X. The closest one is approximately 22 metres from the rear façade of the property. The location of street lamps near the property in Grimwade Close is also shown as X.

The respondent confirmed that the lighting heads on the lamps were changed on 10 December 2021 from the original LED to an alternative LED that enabled them to be dimmed. This was part of a wider replacement project implemented across the county. Part-night lighting, where lamps are turned off between 11.30 pm and 6.00 am, is usually adopted in residential areas and it is now also in use for the two lamps in Pioneer Way. It is not clear when part-night lighting was adopted for these lamps but the respondent stated that it was likely to have commenced shortly after the replacement of the heads. When the claimant first wrote to the council on 6 September 2021 to make his claim, and therefore at the valuation date, the lights were remaining on all night.

To overcome drainage problems the spur road was built on raised ground so that its surface level is raised by an estimated 2 metres above the level of the property’s garden. In late 2021 (estimated by the respondents) the developers erected a length of approximately 27 metres of timber acoustic fencing outside the footpath, on the side of the road nearest the property, in an attempt to address some of the claimant’s concerns over noise disturbance.

On my inspection visit I was able to drive along the spur, as if it were a public road, and then I encountered a Taylor Wimpey sign which indicated the entrance to the development site. I am therefore satisfied that the spur is open to public traffic, even if that traffic must turn around at the entrance to the site.

At the valuation date the spur road was in use during working hours by construction traffic. This will continue to be the only regular use by traffic until completion of the development, estimated to be in 2027. After that date Pioneer Way will be a major access route for the Stour View development.

The plan below shows the proposed layout of the finished development in the vicinity of the property. There will be no housing or parking immediately behind it and trees in the boundary fence are to be retained. The houses nearest to the Property are scheduled to be completed in 2025.