Couple win £200,000 after 20-year fight over bypass

The local government ombudsman ruled that Audrey and Maurice Balchin should get £200,000 for the loss they suffered after the value of their former home in Wroxham, Norfolk, plummeted in 1985 when plans were announced to build a bypass yards away.

He recommended that Norfolk County Council pay £100,000 to Mr and Mrs Balchin, who are now in their late sixties and live in Wickenby, Lincolnshire.

The Department of Transport was ordered to pay a further £100,000 after a joint inquiry by the local government ombudsman and the parliamentary ombudsman decided the two authorities had an equal share of responsibility.

Norfolk County Council said it would consider the ombudsmen's recommendation next month and a spokesman said the money should soon follow.

Tim Byles, the chief executive, said: "We are very sorry indeed about what has happened and the impact this matter has had on Mr and Mrs Balchin. I offer our sincere and unreserved apologies to them."

The Balchins had built a house worth £435,000, but Norfolk County Council had refused to buy it. The planned bypass was scrapped in 1996, but potential purchasers had been put off. The house was sold in 1998 for £240,000. The couple complained about the way the council and Department of Transport had handled the affair. In a joint report, the local government ombudsman and the parliamentary ombudsman upheld their complaint.

Mr Balchin told the Eastern Daily Press: "I am not surprised by the ombudsmen's findings. They have absolutely slated Norfolk County Council. I am sure lesser people would have given up long ago, but I thought, 'No, I am not going to', and the council have been found guilty of malad-ministration. My wife is not in good health and this is all down to the stress. I will never forgive them for what they have done to her. Her dreams, all of a sudden, were taken away from her, and that hurts."