Scrapped HS2 route blights Staffordshire villages, residents say

Residents on part of route of the axed HS2 northern leg believe it has caused long-term damage to their communities.

Phil Robinson said his mother sold her bungalow in Madeley, Staffordshire, on what was expected to become phase 2a of the line.

He claimed it was now "uninhabitable", while other homes in the village had been taken over by squatters.

The government said it was "continuing to develop a clear programme for selling land no longer needed".

Fred Smith, who lived in nearby Whitmore, said others residents who did not sell their properties for HS2 had become "imprisoned in their own homes" because they could not now sell.

The planned high-speed rail route from Birmingham to Manchester would have gone through Staffordshire and Cheshire, but that section of the line was cancelled by the government last autumn.

The bungalow belonging to Mr Robinson's mother was one of about 50 bought by the government around Madeley in 2017 to make way for the line.

Mr Robinson said: "When my mother was living down here on her own I came down every day.

"My dad loved it down here. It's a beautiful place, but it will be uninhabitable now."

He said he would not want the home back and would refuse any offer to sell it to him because the money was needed to pay for his mother's care home.

Mr Smith said the route would have taken the railway line through the end of his garden and added: "We were going to be effectively sitting on a tunnel."

He did not have to sell his home and said the cancellation of the northern section of the line had "come as some relief".

Mr Robinson said he was also aware of empty homes with squatters in them and knew several people in his village who were forced to sell.

But he said: "There have been a number of people almost imprisoned in their own homes because they can't sell them and they couldn't get the price they needed.

"There are a number of really, really sad stories."

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "We're continuing to develop a clear programme for selling land no longer needed for Phase 2 of HS2, ensuring our approach provides value for the taxpayer and fully engages with the people and communities affected."

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