Purchase of property – Proposed bypass – Secretary of State refusing to purhase property – Plaintiffs suffering loss- No compensation available under statute until completion of bypass – Plaintiffs claiming damages at common law – County court judge striking out action for want of cause of action – Appeal dismissed
In 1990 Colonel Owen and his wife, the plaintiffs, were looking for a house in the Cirencester area. The house which suited their purposes was close to the route of a proposed bypass. The proposals were reflected on plans which were in existence and were in broad terms.
Nevertheless the plaintiffs went ahead with the purchase, but unfortunately the proposed bypass was much more substantial than anticipated and the process of building it had a very adverse effect on the plaintiffs’ dream house. The plaintiffs applied under section 246[2A] of the Highways Act 1980 to the Secretary of State for Transport to acquire the house and the application was refused on the ground that they had bought it with knowledge of the proposed bypass.
The refusal was successfully challenged and the decision remitted to the Secretary of State for redetermination: [1995] 2 EGLR 213. Again the Secretary of State refused to acquire the house and again the plaintiffs challenged the decision, this time unsuccessfully: [1995] 1 EGLR 52. The Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal that decision but in the meantime the plaintiffs brought an action at common law in the county court claiming damages for the loss they had suffered as a result of the Secretary of State’s refusal. The judge upheld the district judge, who had struck out the statement of claim as containing no reasonable cause of action. The plaintiffs appealed.
Held The appeal was dismissed.
Although the plaintiffs had suffered seriously, for which they now sought private redress, the court was unable to find any way by which the matter could be pursued as a matter of private law. The plaintiffs had suggested an extension of the principles of Rylands v Fletcher (1868) LR 3 HL 330, but the whole purpose of the Secretary of State’s powers to make purchases was to enable roads such as the Cirencester and Stratton bypass to be built. Redress lay within the confines of the legislation itself, either the Highways Act 1980, under which the plantiffs had failed, or the Land Compensation Act 1973 under which the plaintiffs would be able to make a claim after the bypass had been completed, probably in the year 2000. The court was sympathetic to the plaintiffs, but the claim disclosed no cause of action at common law and the appeal was dismissed.
Lt Col Owen appeared in person; Nicholas Taggart (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared for the Secretary of State for Transport