Land acquisition and compensation

Responsibilities in this area include:

• Paying compensation to landowners affected by road construction and maintenance.
• Dealing with claims for personal injury or damage to property that arise in the course of trunk road and motorway work.
• Taking legal action against drivers who damage barriers, road signs, etc.
• Managing programmes to insulate properties that qualify under the Noise Insulation Regulations (1975) against noise from road works and traffic. 

Land acquisition

Compulsory purchase is the main means of acquiring land for highways. In some cases where minor road schemes involve small numbers of landowners, land is acquired on the basis of agreement.

The Welsh Government's main concerns with regard to land acquisition are twofold:

• To apply the relevant legislation and policy consistently and fairly.  
• To protect as far as reasonably possible the rights of those affected.

Please see the Land Acquisition page for further information

Land and property management

Land and property acquisitions that are required for trunk road and motorway programmes or that are surplus to these requirements must be properly managed.

The Welsh Government currently manages some 47 residential properties, 11 commercial and agricultural businesses, and 76 areas of land most of which are rented out.

Some land and property is sold if it is not required, or if it remains unused after acquisition for improvement works on the trunk roads and motorway network in Wales. There are about 20 such sales annually.

Your rights explained

The below documents can be found under our 'Publications' area.

• Your home and compulsory purchase
• Your home and nuisance from public development
• Your Business and Public Development
• The farmer and public development
• Insulation against traffic noise
  • Advance Payment Pack
  • Form PL8
  • Claim in Answer to a Notice to Treat.