Home-owners who live close to the boundary of the proposed second Stansted runway are to have the value of their property guaranteed for up to 15 years.

Airport operator BAA Stansted has announced details of its Home Owner Support Scheme (HOSS).

HOSS is designed to guarantee the value of residential and commercial property closest to the proposed new runway.

It was drawn up after a lengthy consultation period with local residents and organisations.

Under the scheme home-owners living within a noise contour level of 66 decibels around the proposed new boundary can enter into an agreement with BAA, through which the airport owner is promising to buy properties which have decreased in value due to the runway plans.

Property will be valued at a market rate index-linked from June 2002 the period before extra runway capacity was considered.

For people who find their homes have lost 15 per cent or more of their value, BAA will promise to buy it from them at the full value.

For people who find their houses have lost less than 15 per cent, BAA will provide an "early moving contribution" of up to five per cent on top of the value of their homes.

The aim is to ensure home-owners who need or want to move can sell their property for the price it would have realised had the new runway plans not existed.

HOSS will be active for up to 15 years, or until a new runway opens, when people affected have a statutory right to seek redress under the 1973 Land Compensation Act.

About 500 homes will be eligible for the guarantee inside the 66-decibel boundary, which stretches out at either end of the proposed new runway, encompassing parts of Brewers End, Bambers Green and Takeley at one end and Tilty, Duton Hill and Sibley's Green at the other.

Published Friday October 1, 2004

Brought to you by the Stansted Life