'Cheated' family-run businesses in Northampton will NOT be compensated over construction chaos at relief road

Two businesses which have suffered a severe loss in trade because of major road works will NOT be compensated.

Sandy Lane, which sits between Duston and Harpole, has been closed to thousands of motorists since June last year for reconstruction works as part of wider plans to build hundreds of new homes in the area.

The two businesses in Sandy Lane – Sandy Lane Plants and Threadgold scrap yard – say construction works have severely impacted their livelihoods in the past 10 months, and they are now both calling for compensation.

Developers told this newspaper that any scenarios around compensation would be down to West Northants Council (WNC) because they gave the go-ahead to the plans.

However, in an email seen by Chronicle and Echo, WNC Chief Executive Anna Earnshaw says that while the council provided permission for the project, it does not guarantee its execution and that legal advice suggests that once permission is granted, responsibility shifts to the developer to ensure they do not harm neighbours.

Reacting, owner of Sandy Lane Plants, Cheryl Barnett said: “I’ve been massively impacted. I’m fed up. Disappointed. There have been no compensation talks from anyone. I’m fairly certain we’re not getting compensation.

"It’s crazy. Even today, we drove down and half of the road was blocked so it looks to my customers you can’t get to me. It feels like you’re driving on to a building site. We’re open seven days a week and it’s coming into our busiest month of the year and it feels like you can’t get to me.”

A Threadgold spokeswoman said: “We’re feeling a bit p***** off because, like Cheryl and Gary, what’s going on is nothing to do with us and is totally out of our control.

"We’re in the middle of it all and are having to put up with a lack of trade, lack of business. We’ve been here for over 40 years.

"We’re feeling kind of cheated. We’re told one thing and the reality is something different. We knew it was going to be bad but we didn’t envisage it being as bad as this.

"We’re way down, 25 per cent down, mainly because people can’t be bothered with the hassle of getting to us. For so may weeks you tell your customers to come to you via the A4500 because it’s the only route open, then the developers come in and say that for the next three days it’s shut and the access has changed.

"Miller Homes told us two years ago, sat around a table up at Sandy Lane Plants, that we would be compensated. We asked and they told us when the work started see how it goes after 12 months and see what the drop in takings is and then we’ll discuss compensation. We have not heard anything since."

Councillor Adam Brown (Bugbrooke ward) has been trying to get developers to pay out.

In an email seen by this newspaper, councillor Brown said: “The ongoing disruption to my constituents’ business is not acceptable, and it appears that key undertakings have not been delivered upon. Given that these failures appear to have resulted in a loss of trade I would encourage you to consider a good will payment to the affected businesses for the disruption they have faced.”