The M49 ghost junction debacle is finally set to be sorted after South Gloucestershire Council announced plans to buy the land by force. But it admits it does not know who owns one of the plots needed to build a 160-metre road that will connect the motorway roundabout to the local network.
A report to cabinet, which will authorise compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) on Friday, February 10, said that while officers will continue to negotiate sales and a CPO would be used only as a “last resort”, it is “highly unlikely” that the scheme can be finished without them. The report also names the landowners for the first time and reveals a hotchpotch of land parcels, verges, wasteland, drains and access rights – some as tiny as two square metres – that belong to different entities, two of which are companies registered in Jersey.
National Highways spent £40million to £50million building the M49 junction between Severn Beach and Chittering, which was completed in 2020. It should have provided easy access to the nearby Severnside industrial estates and huge distribution centres, including Amazon, Tesco and Lidl.
Read more: The M49 missing link is finally being connected
But the adjoining land issues were never resolved before the roundabout over the motorway was created and it has stood as a white elephant ever since, unconnected to local roads which get clogged with large numbers of lorries forced to take the long way around. The cabinet report said the council would acquire the plots it needs but that because the CPO process takes so long and any objections from landowners require a public inquiry, the work would probably not start until August next year at the earliest and be completed between August 2025 and February 2026.
If there are no objections, the £7million link road – which is being funded by National Highways – could be open to drivers by November 2024. The report said a section of private estate road comprising the Travelodge roundabout and a stretch between Palmer Avenue and Goldcrest Way needed to be upgraded, while a new section and an embankment would be constructed from there to the M49 to connect it with the A403.
It said: “The council considers that CPO powers will be necessary to enable the assembly of the land required. The council believes that the public benefits would outweigh the private losses and that, on that basis, there is a clear and compelling case in the public interest which would justify the use of compulsory purchase powers.
“Whilst it is anticipated that further progress can be made on the negotiations for some parcels of and interests in land, the number of land interests involved and the presence of land interests will very likely mean that not all interests can be acquired by agreement. The council has actively engaged or sought to engage with all known freehold owners, lessees, tenants and occupiers of the CPO land on an individual basis throughout the development process to date.
“This is an ongoing process in which landowners have engaged positively. These discussions will continue wherever possible, hopefully limiting the number of interests over which compulsory purchase powers will need to be exercised.
“However, given the council’s need to deliver the scheme within a specified timescale and given the number of interests required and the related scope of negotiations, the council has concluded it is highly unlikely it will be able to deliver the scheme within this timescale without the CPO. In addition, one plot is in unregistered ownership and therefore cannot be acquired by agreement; in these cases, proceeding by way of compulsory purchase is the only route open to the council.”
It said the authority had identified four freehold landowners, apart from itself and National Highways. A Jersey-based company called Severnside Distribution Land Limited owns by far the most land required, across seven plots.
Another named in the report is Neptune Bristol Trustee 1 Limited and Neptune Bristol Trustee 2 Limited as trustee of the IGIS Neptune Bristol Property Unit Trust, also registered on the Channel Island, which owns six parcels of land. Blackburn-based Euro Garages Limited owns three and another is held by Northamptonshire company BP2017 (Central Park) Limited.
The council has submitted a planning application and a public consultation will launch soon. Cabinet member for planning and transport Cllr Steve Reade said: “We remain committed to getting this link road built and this planning application is an important milestone to getting this done.
“Once constructed, the new link road will relieve congestion, making South Gloucestershire roads safer and provide vital access to help realise the economic potential of the Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area. Last year, metro mayor Dan Norris said the situation was “crazy” and that he was furious it had not been sorted.
South Gloucestershire Council says its first formal involvement was in October 2021 when cabinet decided to promote the link road by securing funding and land acquisition.
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