Neil Fox Way: Council set to get back £3.4m paid out in compensation over bypass

The authority agreed to release the sum in March this year after more than 1000 claims were made over the Wakefield Eastern Relief Road (WERR).

The 5km road, also called Neil Fox Way, opened in 2017 and connects Aberford Road in the north of the city to Doncaster Road in the south.

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

Around £5.3m of claims were made over a six-year claim period which ended earlier this year.

At the time, senior councillors agreed to release the £3.4m after a report said an “insufficient budget was made available” to cover the costs.

The authority said it planned to apply to West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) to recover the sum.

WYCA members are expected to agree to enter into a funding agreement with the council to repay the sum at a meeting on Thursday (October 31).

A report also recommends a “lessons learned” analysis be carried out into the compensation claims “to inform future schemes.”

The additional funding means the overall cost of the bypass now stands at just under £41m.

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

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

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

Matthew Morley, the council’s cabinet member for planning and highways, previously said: “Rest assured that no Wakefield taxpayer money is going into this.

“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.”