[2024] UKUT 00316 (LC)

The assessment of injurious affection is to be made as at 6 November 2017, taking into account only what was known, or could reasonably have been anticipated, at that date about the likely impact which construction of the new road would have on the property. The loss of direct access to the A465 would have been known, along with details of the proposed alternative route along the PMA. The fact that nearly seven years later the property still has no legal right of access along the PMA, and that keys to the padlocks on gates would not be supplied until mid-2023, would not have been anticipated. But there would inevitably have been uncertainty about the nature of the alternative access and how it would work in practice. Prospective purchasers in the market for a property affected by uncertainty exercise caution by discounting the price they are willing to pay, and the amount of that discount would be the amount of injurious affection to be paid as compensation in this case.

Mr Cooper placed a figure of £28,000 on the injurious affection caused by the scheme. If this figure was added back to Ms Bryan’s assessment of market value at £406,000 it would suggest a no-scheme world value of £434,000 or £2,138 per sq m. Ms Bryan’s two preferred comparables were Forge House and Dan-y-Lan. Forge House is a 300 sq m five bedroom house in grounds of 2.9 acres, located across the river from the property. It sold for an adjusted price of £439,301 (£1,335 per sq m). Dan y Lan is a 172 sq m four bedroom house with five acres of land, situated in an elevated position south of the new road. It sold for an adjusted price of £459,162 (£2,670 per sq m). Neither property was directly affected by the road scheme, although both would have suffered from the inconvenience of disruption during road construction, a fact which would have been anticipated at their dates of sale. I was able to see both properties from the roadside, and I have seen the online sales details for each provided by Ms Bryan.

In my judgment a purchaser making a discount for the uncertainty of the new access would reduce their offer by a round figure, rather than a percentage, and I consider that the round figure would be £20,000. Assuming Ms Bryan’s value of £406,000, that would suggest a no-scheme world value of £426,000 or £2,099 per sq m. That value sits comfortably with the sales evidence of Forge House and Dan y Lan, which were sold in a world where the scheme existed but was not going to affect either property directly.

The claim for injurious affection is determined at £20,000.