Kathy O’Donoghue stands outside the Methodist chapel that is something of a focal point for the quiet Cheshire village of Lostock Green. With snow covering its roof and icicles dangling from its gables, it’s quite the picturesque, wintry scene. But it’s also at the literal centre of a furious HS2 debate that shows no signs of ending – despite Phase 2 of the route being scrapped 14 months ago.
“This is the compensation line,” points out O’Donoghue, the parish council’s HS2 Liaison Officer. “Look that way, and there are 21 houses in this little village now owned by HS2. Some are in a state of disrepair, some are empty and a few are rented out. HS2 has changed the whole character of the village – we were quite a close-knit community.
“We want the houses in our community back – and that’s just the start.”
But it’s not happening any time soon, and villagers are exasperated at the situation.
For a very short period the Mid Cheshire Against HS2 campaign group – of which O’Donoghue is a part – celebrated Sunak’s scrapping of Phase 2. It was expected that the safeguarding measures, which effectively mean HS2 has the rights over planning and development on and next to the route, would be lifted in short order.
Connected with safeguarding, there are also still in play various property compensation schemes – and compulsory purchase orders. Once HS2 buy a property, it can’t be sold until safeguarding measures are lifted.
Hence all those empty houses. In addition, anyone owning property in a safeguarded area still has to get permission from HS2 to build an extension. Mainly, allege some property owners, so that the values remain low in case HS2 has to make a compulsory purchase.
All of which begs the question; why would HS2 have to make a compulsory purchase if HS2 isn’t being built? Chris Wilson, whose house in nearby Plumley would have overlooked a 28ft HS2 flyover – but wasn’t in any safeguarding zone – reckons he knows why.
“Well, first of all Labour winning the election changed everything again, and then the Mayors of Manchester and West Midlands said they wanted to do a lower speed, lower spec and lower cost version of HS2 to Manchester.”
Wilson’s suspicion that the HS2 story is far from over was effectively confirmed in the Commons on Thursday. When questioned on HS2 north of Birmingham, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the Government had “started the hard work of identifying a realistic pipeline of schemes that is affordable and will deliver better connectivity in partnership with local leaders”.
One of those schemes might be the Midlands-North West Rail Link, which is the report Wilson speaks of; commissioned by the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands Andy Burnham and Richard Parker, it proposes a line “which still provides the capacity and connectivity benefits of HS2, but at a far lower cost,” funded in partnership with private investors.
t’s been dubbed HS2-lite, and buried in the small print of the report is a desire to “protect and prolong existing planning powers”.
Graham Dellow, secretary of Mid Cheshire Against HS2, thinks safeguarding is now unlikely to be lifted until money is found for these projects.
“But the paradox is, money will never be found for it, whether that be private or public,” he argues. “We’re in such a dire economic situation in this country, and yet with all these properties and land owned by HS2, we could actually be putting money back into the public purse.”
To prove Dellow’s point, O’Donoghue takes us to a beautiful, padlocked and very obviously empty farmhouse owned by HS2 on a country lane leading out from Lostock Green.
“Look at how laughable this is,” she says. “This house should be a family home for someone. But in the meantime, it feels like Andy Burnham is dictating what’s going on in Cheshire.
Actually we’d love to bring him out here and see for himself what building a track would mean – even just in terms of the geology. It would go through brine fields, and it could cost as much as £1bn a mile to put new track down here. Can the country really afford that?
“I want to ask Burnham if he actually knows all the facts.”
So, later that day, we do ask him. A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Combined Authority tells us that “both Andy and Richard absolutely have sympathy with residents and communities who were left in the dark around the last government’s rash decision-making around HS2”.
“We are working with the government to come to a decision as soon as possible so that residents in the Midlands and Cheshire are not left in limbo. A new line will bring countless benefits to people between the Midlands and Greater Manchester, and we will always listen to residents’ concerns and work with the Department for Transport to make sure the impacts on communities are as low as possible.”
The problem is, the residents of Cheshire have been left in limbo for years already – and there’s absolutely no sign that will change. And the impact has been immense; families were forced to move out, businesses collapsed.
Further down the “line” in Wimboldsley, there’s a very obvious example of just how damaging this lack of decision making can be. John Edge has been a dairy farmer all his life – and as he says, it’s a hard life. As he looked forward to a well-earned retirement, his intention was to sell his grand Victorian farmhouse and barns to a property developer.
The only problem being, there were plans for massive HS2 sidings just the other side of the West Coast mainline track. “Big floodlights and sheds storing and maintaining trains – actually we were going to lose 250 acres from the farm,” he says.
“We’ve had a lot of interest but nobody wants to buy it because of that safeguarded land,” he says, pausing as a West Coast train speeds northwards. “It’s too risky an investment. Meanwhile, there must be 15 or 20 properties around here that are just derelict or boarded up now because it would cost them too much in maintenance to get them tenanted. It’s taken the heart out of the community.
“So like everyone else, we are in limbo. We just want to move on – literally to a bungalow in Nantwich – but we can’t. It’s been like this for ten years, really.”
Actually, Edge does have some recourse – he could still sell to HS2 as part of its blight scheme. But it’s fraught with difficulty, the suspicion being that HS2 make “low-ball” offers or even agree to a sale and then delay payment.
“I know plenty of farmers who sold their land to HS2 and still haven’t received a penny,” says Edge. “We’re all just stuck.”
Back in Lostock Green, Dellow finds us another empty house showing signs of deterioration; there’s no-one home obviously, but the heating is going like the clappers, paid for by HS2 to keep the house in some sort of shape. In a time when winter fuel payments have become such an issue, it’s such a visible sign of waste.
“Actually, this is really a story about the complete and utter waste and incompetence, and, in my view, the lies we’ve encountered for years,” he alleges. “Two councils signed NDAs saying they would not discuss HS2 with the council tax payers who fund them. It needs to be looked into.”
But who do you ask to look into it? The MP for Lostock Green is Esther McVey, and as someone who was once Minister for Housing and Planning under the Conservatives, she’s under no illusions about the impact this is continuing to have.
“HS2 has been a nightmare for local communities for years and unbelievably it continues to be so under the radar,” she says. “Small villages in my area are left in limbo with multiple unused properties, blighting these communities.
“When Rishi Sunak announced the scrapping of HS2 Phase 2, that should have been the end of the matter, with communities able to get their lives back, but I’m afraid there are too many vested interests, and too many people getting fat on taxpayers’ money for them to allow that to happen.
“HS2 is still wasting unconscionable amounts of money, and if Angela Rayner is serious about addressing the housing shortage in this country she should ensure these houses are sold and brought back into use ASAP rather than HS2 hanging on to them in the hope that the decision to scrap it will be reversed.”
And that’s the real issue here; nobody is actually making a decision – or more pertinently, nobody knows who can make it. Is it HS2 themselves, is it the metro mayors, local councils, or is it the government?
“We are reviewing the position we have inherited on HS2 and will set out future plans for Phase 2b safeguarding in due course,” says a Department for Transport spokesperson. “Transport is an essential part of the Government’s mission to rebuild Britain and we are committed to improving rail connectivity across the North. Any land that is no longer required will be sold in line with Treasury rules through a disposal programme.”
It’s what “due course” means that has become so infuriating for these villagers, though.
“We’re stuck in this endless loop of will it happen, won’t it happen,” sighs Wilson.
“Continuously kicking the can down the road helps no-one; we could be still talking about this in ten years… and the line still won’t have been built.”
www.telegraph.co.uk
