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£100,000 payout as Manchester Airport runway hits value of houses

The Sparks' home in Mobberley

Two families have been awarded more than £100,000 compensation from Manchester Airport after being plagued by plane noise.

The couples took the airport to the Royal Courts of Justice in London claiming their lives were ruined by jets using the second runway, which opened in 2001.

And a judge ruled the value of their homes had been slashed since runway two opened.

Retired builders’ merchants Andrew and Annette Spark, who live in an Edwardian semi in Mobberley, were awarded £40,000.

After the ruling, Mrs Spark, said: “At times it’s an aerial bombardment.”

Their neighbours, Adrian and Kathleen Robertson, were awarded £72,500 after telling how the windows of their 19th century farmhouse are rattled by passing planes and it was impossible to hold a conversation in the garden.

The couples took the airport to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) of the Royal Courts where judge Andrew Trott said their account of vibration, fumes and ‘discharge of substances’ was not exaggerated and their evidence was ‘balanced and reasonable’.

Without the second runway, the Sparks’ home would be worth £515,000 and the Robertsons’ farmhouse £725,000, the judge ruled – 7.8per cent and 10pc respectively more than their current market value.

An airport spokesman said: “These were the only two of several hundred claims that were not settled by agreement. The claimants took their cases to the Lands Tribunal who have awarded them compensation and this award is in line with our own expert assessment.”

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What the hell do you expect if you choose to live near an airport?!

I understand it's the new runway, but still, these payouts are ridiculous.

Unbelieveable.

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Read the article - Edwardian properties. Where were the runways when these houses were built ?

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How many 100+ year old people are living in these houses since the Edwardian era then?

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All the money in the world will not prevent noise, smug and fumes now will it?!

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What a wonderfully equitable country this is: "compo" for losses that haven't actually been sustained yet. When they come to sell up, perhaps the MEN will comment on the shortfall between the estimated value and the actual sale price.

I'd also be interested to know how long the Sparks and the Robertsons have been living in their respective properties. I presume that they were living there long before 2001 - or were they?

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This gives me hope that if Oldham Council lets Oldham Football Club build their new ground 100 meters from my house i will be making a claim.

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idiots ...................

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