Anger as HS2 plans four-year main road closure

Residents living close to the new HS2 high-speed railway station at Old Oak Common in north-west London say they are "shattered" that their main road could be closed for four years.

Old Oak Common Lane runs between the area and East Acton, where residents go for shopping, schools and hospitals.

HS2 Ltd has told residents it will have to close the road for four years for work on utility cabling and to lower the road for double-decker buses.

HS2 is a new high-speed rail line being built between London and Birmingham, which is meant to free up capacity on the existing rail network and reduce journey times. But the northern section to Manchester and Leeds has been scrapped and work on a new station at Euston has been paused.

Amanda Souter, of the Well House Road residents' association, said: "We will basically become totally isolated and cut off.

"All of our amenities including hospitals, GP surgeries, dentists, shops and two primary schools, and all the other schools, you get to using that road.

"Residents will have to go round in a massive circle of about two miles to get round it."

She added: "The community is absolutely shattered by this news.

"We had been told about a one-year closure, which was really going to take its toll on the community, but four years - and the council is telling us it could be longer - is just absolutely devastating.

"I don't know how we will get through it."

Near to the HS2 site is a new block of flats called Oakland Rise, and a group of mums there only found out about the closure as Ms Souter told them.

They said they were really angry and upset about what was happening and felt forgotten. They are worried the road closure will mean they will be cut off and isolated and the detour will take hours.

Fardosa Abdullahi said a four-year road closure would be very difficult: "It will make a major difference to all of us in this building.

"For me, I've got two kids in primary and my son is in nursery, so I make the journey four times a day. I also got my GP and my pharmacy there, it's obviously going to have a major impact on all of us.

"It will be very, very difficult. We just hope they change their minds."

Shukri Mohamed says all the shops are on that side of the community: "Our work, our GPs, our schools are on that side. Fours years is a big difference for parents."

It will be a "disaster", another of the mothers, Ilwad Gacal, said: "It's our main road. It's the road that we use to commute to everything we need - school, GP - anything that we need, we need to go down Old Oak Common Lane.

"I can't imagine the road being closed. Where are we going to go? It would add hours and hours on our lives in terms of disruption and traffic. It's just unimaginable."

An HS2 Ltd spokesperson said: "In order to undertake utility diversion works, build new rail bridges, and lower and widen Old Oak Common Lane to allow for double decker buses to serve the station, we need to close Old Oak Common Lane for a period of time.

"HS2 takes its responsibilities to local communities very seriously and we try to minimise impacts wherever possible."

It said it was "in dialogue" with residents about "the works required and the options for the closure of Old Oak Common Lane".

It is not just the residents who have concerns about what is going on at Old Oak Common.

Documents obtained by residents also show that Transport for London (Tfl) has some “high level concerns” about the station design for surface transport at Old Oak Common, calling parts of it “high risk”.

The document, which is marked "Tfl restricted", outlines a number of safety issues with the design, which it describes as "unorthodox".

The criticisms include:

• Pedestrian forecasts do not take into account area growth like visitors, staff, on-site residents
• There is only one way in and out of the site and the new junction is a "potential bottleneck" and may be a safety issue
• Not enough bus stops
• Increased risk of collision and closures
• Private vehicles will share bus station, which is "high risk"
• No plan to manage unplanned rail disruption outside station. HS2 could deliver passengers to a location with onward options or "long walks"
• Overcrowding due to disruption not modelled outside station

An HS2 Ltd spokesperson continued: “HS2 is committed to working closely with local partners to best integrate the station into the wider development plans and ensure it is operationally safe and resilient.”

Those criticisms from Tfl, according to local residents, show how the scheme is not being properly designed or thought through.

Uncertainty certainly shrouds the HS2 project in London at the moment.

The government wants private funding to pay for the new station at Euston but that still hasn't been forthcoming. The project there is paused.

If private funding doesn't happen for Euston, Old Oak Common could still become the terminus for HS2. Passengers would have to transfer onto the Elizabeth line at a new station.

If it did become the terminus, the station would also have to be redesigned. And critics say any time benefit of getting from London to Birmingham on the new high-speed line would be lost transferring onto the Elizabeth line.

Residents are also critical of the planning authority that covers the area, the Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC). The OPDC is overseeing the regeneration of the area surrounding the transport hub. The development will include homes, offices and retail, but residents say there is no co-ordination about plans on the site.

Ms Souter says the planning authority has no joined-up proposal for the area: "The planning authority is absolutely not doing enough to control what is going on here. They have taken their eye off the ball.

"There's been a planning application put in from HS2 with a number of reasons to close this road, which all add up to four years without them noticing.

"They should be controlling this, and they should really be the people who stand between us and HS2 and negotiate what everyone needs round here."

An OPDC spokesperson said: “The original applications for Old Oak Common Station and associated public realm were approved between 2020 and 2022, since which time there have been a number of changes, such as the government’s announcement of delays to Euston and Old Oak Common becoming a longer-term temporary terminus."

They said OPDC was "working together" with HS2, TfL and the Department for Transport to "understand the implications and make sure the station and associated infrastructure works effectively for local people, passengers and visitors".

“Across 2023 we engaged closely with residents and community groups on our plans for regeneration around the station, including active travel and public realm, to ensure any plans delivered by OPDC reflect local aspirations and needs," they added.