‘We stopped HS2 seizing half our family farm – now we’re beneath risk once more’ | EUROtoday

A dairy farmer who gained a battle to cease nearly half of his land being seized for the scrapped HS2 rail line between Birmingham and Manchester says the household farm may very well be beneath risk once more.

John Edge, 74, mentioned additional uncertainty now shrouds the way forward for his enterprise after transport minister Heidi Alexander introduced on Wednesday {that a} new north-south line between the 2 cities was being deliberate as a part of funding within the northern rail community.

Two years earlier, in October 2023, prime minister Rishi Sunak axed the northern HS2 hyperlink within the wake of rising prices and big protests in villages and cities alongside the supposed 87-mile route.

Mr Edge’s farm in Wimboldsley, north of Crewe in Cheshire, was set to lose 300 of its 700 acres for the road and a rail siding – land which continues to be protected against growth by the Department for Transport for doable future tasks.

Now, with plans for a brand new line, Mr Edge, who has additionally been making an attempt to promote his farmhouse for 2 years forward of his retirement, mentioned he and his son, who runs the dairy herd, had been thrust again into years of extra uncertainty.

“It is another Damocles sword now hanging over our heads,” he informed The Independent. “After all these years of uncertainty, from when HS2 was first announced, we have wanted this to end, to have a clear idea over the future.

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“But this news only brings it all back, and us hearing the line might not be built for another 20 years, you wonder when it will stop. It’s gone on for too long, it’s impacted many lives, including our own. It’s just not good enough.”

The household are amongst hundreds of individuals residing alongside the scrapped HS2 line who, regardless of an assurance that the brand new line won’t be an “HS2 revival”, shall be questioning its route and the potential influence on their lives.

Mr Edge and his spouse, Ruth, had deliberate to retire and transfer to a bungalow in close by Nantwich. But after their farm and outbuildings had been put up on the market two years in the past, solely now does it seem they’re near promoting.

“Whenever someone came round to look [at the property]you’d have to mention HS2,” Mr Edge mentioned. “It was the uncertainty, and that impacts people’s decisions. It certainly didn’t help in selling the farm, which put our plans back.

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“Now we’re wondering what will happen, if the line will follow the same route, and what will happen to our family dairy farm, which would be considerably impacted in terms of herd size and viability by any such loss of land.”

In the village of Wimboldsley, which has a inhabitants of round 140, Mr Edge mentioned HS2 and the continued uncertainty over future tasks had “knocked the stuffing” out of the group. Around 20 houses had been purchased by HS2, with a number of mendacity empty and in poor situation, he mentioned.

As of final August, HS2 had spent greater than £380m on 459 properties alongside the scrapped route from Handsacre, simply north of Birmingham, to Manchester. Some can’t be rented again out on account of their poor situation, an HS2 spokesperson mentioned.

On Wednesday, the DfT informed The Independent that not one of the properties purchased up between Birmingham and Manchester had been offered, and that safeguarding protections on land would stay between Crewe and Manchester, together with on Mr Edge’s farm.

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Further down the road, in Staffordshire, Ben Wilkes, who runs the Border Collie Trust on 4 and a half acres of land within the path of the cancelled part of the HS2 monitor, mentioned: “It’s like a form of water torture. All we want is to come out of this uncertainty and be able to firmly plan for the future.”

Also in Staffordshire, within the village of Whitmore Heath, the place some 35 of the 50 houses had been offered for the scrapped HS2 line, Deborah Mallender, who based Madeley and Whitmore Villages Stop HS2, mentioned: “It’s [news of a new railway line] the worst nightmare for many residents. We’re back to square one again.”

With the plans for the north-south railway line nonetheless being developed, it’s not but clear if its route will observe the scrapped a part of HS2. No timescale has been offered for when it might open, however it won’t be till after the completion of the Northern Powerhouse Rail line, a proposed high-speed hyperlink masking a part of the route between Liverpool and Leeds.

In the Commons on Wednesday, some MPs raised issues on behalf of residents residing alongside the scrapped strains. Lichfield MP Dave Robertson mentioned: “For 17 long years, constituents have had to deal with the complete failure of HS2 Ltd while ministers were asleep at the wheel, and the chaotic cancellation of the scheme did nothing to alleviate those problems, and instead replaced it with uncertainty. Unfortunately, all today’s statement does is confirm that uncertainty will last for another two decades.”

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Mr Robertson urged Ms Alexander to decide to a fast redesign of the HS2 line to allow the discharge of land from safeguarding. The transport secretary acknowledged “there will be some people today who are dealing with more uncertainty”, including that she wished to hunt to scale back disruption to their lives.

But South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson informed The Independent: “This is potentially the worst of all worlds. They promised a railway line, but without the funding behind it, meaning that communities continue to suffer the pain. The Labour government needs to get a grip and end this enormous white elephant.”

Ms Alexander mentioned a long-term plan for a brand new north-south route from Birmingham to Manchester was wanted to deal with congestion and overcrowding on the West Coast Main Line. “This won’t be a revival of HS2, and no decisions have been taken on the specification or timetable,” she added.

The Department of Transport has been approached for remark.