Road Scheme Success Safeguards Future of Industrial Estate

The Public Law Team led by Huw Williams is celebrating the decision by the Welsh Minister for Economy and Transport, Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, to confirm the statutory orders which the team had promoted for Wrexham County Borough Council which will enable the construction of new access roads to one of the largest industrial estates in the UK.

On the 29th March 2010 the Minister announced his decison to confirm orders under the Highways Act 1980 for the the compulsory acquisition of land and the provision of side roads required to enable the construction of new access roads from the north and south into the the Wrexham Industrial Estate. The estate is one of the largest of its kind in the UK and many well known manufacturers have plants on the site, including Kellogs, JCB and Tetrapak.

The estate was originally developed on the site of a Second World War ordnance factory and has always suffered from poor connections along country roads to the principal road network. Schemes to improve access have been under consideration since the early 1980's.

The firm was originally appointed to advise Wrexham County Borough Council in 1999 and successfully secured the orders for the first phase of the new northern access as long ago as 2000. The routes of the links into the Estate itself have been controversial because of the effects of the scheme on agricultural land around the Estate and because of environmental issues including the presence of great crested newts (a European protected species) and watercourses draining into the River Dee and Bala Lake European Special Area of Conservation.

An initial scheme dating from the 1980's was rejected after a public inquiry in 2004 due to the impact of the roads on agricultural land. Since then the Geldards team have advised the Council on the legal aspects of developing a new scheme with a signficantly reduced impact on farming and which also mitigated the other environmental impacts. The approved scheme will now include newt translocation areas, badger tunnels and a sustainable highway drainage system.

In addition to advising on issues relating to the form and content of the planning applications for the new roads, Huw Wiliams, assisted by Peter Noble, prepared two large compulrory purchase orders for the land required and two side roads orders authorising changes to the existing road network. They also conducted negotiations with objectors and successfully secured the withdrawal of the majority of them. The remaining objections were heard at a five day public inquiry in Wrexham in October last year, where Huw and Peter instructed Stephen Sauvain QC of King's Chambers, Manchester.

The total cost of the scheme will be in excess of £30m and work is expected to begin on site this summer with the roads opening in 2012. The new roads will relieve the access problems for HGV's and staff experienced by existing occupiers and remove a major disincentive to locating new businesses on the Estate enhancing its competitiveness as the UK emerges from economic recession.