A HOMEOWNER’S battle to save his property from the bulldozers looks likely to end in misery as plans for Huntingdon’s new link road move forward.

A HOMEOWNER’S battle to save his property from the bulldozers looks likely to end in misery as plans for Huntingdon’s new link road move forward.

Lee Armstrong, 36, has been fighting for five years to stop the proposed 520-metre link road from Brampton Road to Ermine Street from flattening his home at 8 Ermine Street, but says now he is resigned to its being lost.

The former IT systems administrator, who runs Sawtry-based Bonded Components, bought the Ermine Street property eight years ago with architect ex-wife Suzi Armstrong.

The couple, who separated three years ago but remain good friends, spent �60,000 renovating the four-bedroom property into their dream home.

Mr Armstrong said: “When we moved here it was a hole, but we saw it had so much potential. We have done so much to this place. We worked on the top-floor bedroom first, then changed the staircase. We re-did the roof on the back bedroom from a flat to a pitched roof.

“We ended up spending money on all sorts of things. But we were not doing it up to sell. We had no intention of moving from here.”

Mr Armstrong is the only private homeowner affected by the �3.5million road scheme, which has already secured planning permission and demolition consent. The next stage is approval from Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles.

Mr Armstrong does not think the link road, part of a proposed west-of-town-centre redevelopment spearheaded by Huntingdonshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, will ease the town’s traffic problems.

There are plans to extend the town centre up to the railway line to provide new shops, businesses, homes and car parking.

The link road, it is argued, will cut up to 50 per cent of peak-hour traffic on Huntingdon’s ring road.

Mr Armstrong said: “The new road is not going to make any difference. In fact it is going to make the traffic situation worse.”

From next month Mr Armstrong and the nine other landowners affected by the scheme, as well as members of the public, will have three weeks to submit objections.

A planning inquiry is expected to be held into the purchase orders, with work on the scheme starting in spring 2012.

Until then Mr Armstrong remains in limbo.

“Because we have not got a figure on how much the house is worth, how do you budget? If they are going to be another 18 months, there is no point looking for other properties.”