I’ll lie in front of wrecking crews, pledges man, 84 (From Worcester News)

I’ll lie in front of wrecking crews, pledges man, 84

9:00am Wednesday 10th February 2010 in

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THE owner of a landmark listed farmhouse on the outskirts of Worcester has vowed to lie down in front of bulldozers to prevent the proposed north-west link road being built on his land.

Halcrow’s report says its preference is for the completed ring road around Worcester to link up with the A449 at Claines.

That would mean demolishing Oak Farm, just off Claines roundabout, and while the council has denied that is what it is looking to do, owner Peter Sansome said no amount of money could force him to sell the home which has been in his family since 1876.

The Halcrow report says: “West of Bevere, at Claines roundabout, a grade two listed farmhouse of the early 19th century would need to be demolished.”

Mr Sansome, who also owns 20 acres of land, said he had not even heard about such plans until your Worcester News contacted him yesterday.

“This place means everything to me,” said the 84-year-old who has lived in the house all his life. “I’m absolutely devastated. It has shaken me up.

“If they offered me £50 million to sell I wouldn’t. If the bulldozers came, I would lie down in front of them. I have always been here and always will be.”

Mr Sansome said six generations had lived on Oak Farm. He eventually bought it in 1982 and said he had been approached to sell up a number of times since.

Mr Sansome’s brother Harry, who owns neighbouring farmland, said: “If they wanted to demolish Oak Farm, they would be up against the whole parish.”

Councillor Derek Prodger, cabinet member for transport and safe environment, said in a statement: “It is important to stress that all references to individual properties and land in this report are completely hypothetical and are included to enable a clearer understanding of the wider highways options only.

“They are not proposals under consideration. The strategy has been developed to support the vision for Worcestershire and deal with existing and future challenges that we may face.

“We are committed to the consultation on this strategy and only once has this been completed will we begin to conduct a more technical assessment. I want to reassure people that no specific options are agreed or even preferred, that no properties are included in any plans and that we are committed to listening to the public during this important consultation period.

“I appreciate that seeing reference to specific property can be alarming and we apologise for concerns this may have caused.”

• Please read our story about the two proposed routes here then vote in our poll below to indicate your preference.

Comments(16)

rgdudley says...
9:09am Wed 10 Feb 10

It would probably be a better design to move the new connection slightly up the A449 towards Kidderminster.
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Apart from avoiding this house, large roundabouts with many junctions (this would have 5) always cause problems. It would be better to have two roundabouts, the new one with 3 (maybe 4 if you include egg lane) connections and the existing one as it is.