By Local Democracy Reporter
Piers Meyler

ESSEX County Council has refused to accept that a property claimed to be worth nearly £900,000 has been wrecked by the new M11 junction and link road in Harlow.

But far from saying it would put potential buyers off 120 Sheering Road, Essex County Council has said say that having cars travelling along a three lane highway less than ten metres from their window “might be a positive effect on the value of the property as the marketability will be enhanced through access to the new link road and the M11″.

The family says plans for new link road – due to be completed by 2021 – has significantly reduced the saleability of the large five bedroom house that will be one of the worst affected by Essex County Council’s plans to improve journey times off the motorway.

ECC adds that “no part” of the land is directly affected by the route, nor is there any intention that any of the claimant’s land will be required.

However correspondence from H&B Partnership Limited, which is selling the house, has told the owners: “It would be irresponsible of me, as an experienced (locally based) estate agent not to point out the pending Junction 7a off the M11 motorway and widening and improving of the support service road having a direct impact on your property.

“From the plans currently available, the widening of the B183 either runs up to or touches part of your western boundary which will cause consternation to the majority of interested buyers.

“Not knowing the full impact this scheme will have to the neighbourhood and most importantly, your home, is a major issue.

“Until the scheme is finished, it will be impossible to know or predict. I would suggest, the property may be seriously affected and considered ‘blighted’.

“But until marketing has been carried out for a reasonable period and (possibly) the completion of the road system, it is difficult to judge on saleability or at being able to achieve its true market value.”

However ECC says that significant new development within the surrounding area has been proposed within the Harlow District Council Local Plan proposals and could impact on the saleability of the property and “the property is on the market at an inflated value”.

The statement concludes: “The scheme has been designed in a way to ensure access to the property would be maintained to the highway network as currently exists.

“There might be a positive effect on the value of the property as the marketability will be enhanced through access to the new link road and the M11.”

The road has been designed so that two lanes would take traffic in a westerly direction into Harlow Town and the third lane would take the outbound traffic onto the M11 motorway.

A roundabout, known as the Churchgate Roundabout, would have a “hamburger” configuration, allowing traffic to flow through the centre of the roundabout in an east-west direction.

The roundabout would also allow access into the proposed Harlowbury development.

A new 2.5m wide footpath/cycleway would run from London Road to Sheering Road at The Campions.

At Mayfield Farm, the proposed widened carriageway would begin to veer to the right from its present route.

Here a new carriageway would be built linking the existing Sheering Road with a new roundabout known as the Campions Roundabout.

It is at this point that the road runs close to the “blighted property” – a late 19th century semi detached house – which is the last residential house on the existing B183 before the point that a new road links the M11 with Harlow.

Existing properties opposite will be set some way away from the new road and accessed via the existing Sheering Road that will become essentially a road for the use of the residents of the Campions to get to their properties.

The road has been designed so that two lanes would take traffic in a westerly direction into Harlow Town and the third lane would take the outbound traffic onto the M11 motorway.

Exiting the new Campions Roundabout, heading towards the new M11 junction, the road would connect to another new roundabout known as Pincey Brook Roundabout.

ECC has added the claimant can refer the matter to the Upper Chamber (Lands Chamber) “to which ECC would need to respond unless it proposes to change its position at that time”.