FRUSTRATED business owners are still waiting to be paid FOUR years after their land was taken for Sheffield's £50 million inner relief road.
The road took three years to build and has been open 12 months - but delays and negotiations between landowners and Sheffield Council have added tens of thousands to the cost.
Compulsory Purchase Orders were approved in 2003 for sites along the route between Shalesmoor and the Wicker and construction began the following year.
But a number of landowners are still awaiting full settlement, including Mick Todd, of Bradway, who owns Cherry Tree Developments.
Part of his land between Brunswick Road and the Wicker Arches, on which he still hopes to build a mixed use development of offices and flats, was taken.
He said: "You would think you were in China or communist Russia, that they could take land off you and not pay you. The delay in paying me, coupled with funding my ongoing legal costs has nearly bankrupted me. It's been a real struggle to carry on with my business and pay the mortgage."
Mr Todd said he knew the inner relief road, funded by central government, was proposed when he bought the land in 2003 and was soon sent a letter saying almost a third of the site was to be taken off him under a CPO.
But he was initially offered £10,000 - an amount he rejected as "derisory".
Both Mr Todd and the council sought advice and in 2005, the surveyor working on behalf of the council suggested £240,000 - acceptable to Mr Todd but not to the council. The case was taken to a lands tribunal but was further delayed after Mr Todd changed his mind and asked for more than £400,000 after he claimed he was "misadvised" by those representing him.
Finally last month the tribunal was due to be held but at the last minute, the council offered a settlement of £330,000 plus Mr Todd's fees, which run into tens of thousands of pounds.
Mr Todd accepted the offer but has only received half of the money as a downpayment and is still awaiting the balance.
He said: "They could have settled back in 2005 but this has dragged on and will end up costing taxpayers thousand pounds more."
Mr Todd's solicitor Robert Tranter, of law firm Hackett Windle, based on Townhead Street, said: "He's had a really rough ride. It's unusual for a CPO to go as far as this."
Also awaiting payment is Janet Belton, owner of the former Arches nightclub, lost part of her site when a section of the Wicker viaduct was removed to make way for a new bridge."I have still not received anything and it's very frustrating," she said.But Sheffield Council said Mrs Belton has not been paid because she has so far been unable to prove ownership. It added the initial low offer to Mr Todd was because its surveyor claimed his land was unsuitable for development.Sheffield Council has not revealed the total number of landowners still awaiting payment, although The Star understands there are several more cases.
Regarding Mr Todd, director of development, environment and leisure, David Curtis, said: "This settlement has not cost council tax payers any additional sums.
"We negotiated what we believed was a fair settlement."
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