Advice On Motorway Route Properties

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31162, 12 September 1966, Page 12

Advice On Motorway Route Properties

The District Commissioner of Works (Mr D. B. Dallas) has acted swiftly and helpfully in advising owners of properties on the recommended line of the northern motorway about Ministry of Works procedures for the valuation and purchase of properties. As agent for the National Roads Board and executor of the board’s policies, the Ministry of Works could* hardly go further to assist householders and to relieve their anxieties over the future of their properties. The interest shown by Mr Dallas in the welfare of owners who may be displaced is, indeed, out of place in the common conception—or misconception—of an impersonal bureaucracy; but it should help in the smooth transfer of properties to the advantage of the owners and of the department. By making an early decision on the route recommended by the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority and by authorising the prompt purchase of properties as they come on the market, the board would remove many uncertainties, easing the work of the department and the minds of the owners. No-one need be hurried into an unsatisfactory sale. If Mr Dallas is right when he suggests that private buyers will be found to take over properties for a limited period, so much the better. It is not, however, very likely that persons who, in good faith, have bought sections on the route and cannot now obtain building permits will find willing buyers. It is highly likely that, even with the prospect of eventual sales to the Ministry of Works, prices offered by private buyers for house properties will fall below recent values. Although the National Roads Board may not be keen to become a landlord in St. Albans, it would probably save much money in the long run by buying properties as early as possible. Most owners will not want to dispose of their properties before they are required for the construction of the motorway. Owners who must sell earlier for other reasons should not be allowed to suffer loss through the board’s inclination to delay purchases. The outcome most to be desired is that the Ministry of Works should be able to buy their properties, at times most convenient to the owners, and at prices unaffected by the prospect of the motorway’s construction.