Couple whose home will overlook HS2 track says ‘Villages on route will be lost’
MHBG-12-01-12 HS2 Decision Birmingham & Fazeley canal viaduct
A DEVASTATED couple whose home will overlook the newly-approved high speed rail line, have said villages along the route will be lost.
Philip and Susie Freer’s home in Lower Boddington will be just a quarter-of-a-mile from the £17 billion development which the Government gave the green light to this week.
But the couple were keen to stress their misery at the high speed London to Birmingham link was not based on ‘NIMBYism’, but on the excessive cost and flawed business case for a route.
Susie, who moved to the quiet village to write children’s books, said: “Of course it’s affected us and it is a disaster for us, but we are not against it just for that. This is a huge amount of money; I think people are only just starting to realise the extent of how much money is being spent on this when it could be spent on much better areas.
“You can already take a train from Birmingham to London with Virgin which takes an hour, this will save ten minutes and destroy so much of the British countryside. We are for progress, we have to be, we want the country to improve, but this is the wrong way.
“The general public seem to agree it’s not a feasible idea, so why doesn’t the Government? They are determined not to listen.”
The 140-mile HS2 route, which will pass through the South Northamptonshire countryside, will be completed by 2026.
A second phase of the scheme to connect Leeds and Manchester to the Y-shaped line by 2033 will bring the total spend to £32 billion.
The new line will enter Northamptonshire at Turweston, passing to the north east of Brackley before heading west out of the county near Warmington, lining Radstone, Whitfield, Greatworth, Thorpe Mandeville and Edgcote, Chipping Warden, Aston Le Walls and Boddington.
Philip, a retired business developer, who used to commute from Banbury to London, said: “When we read about it two years ago we were in shock, horror, and we’re devastated now.
“I just don’t see how the business case stacks up, 14 trains an hour from Birmingham to London, where are all these people going to come from?
“The entire network needs upgrading, to benefit everybody.
“Business is rapidly changing all the time, with internet taking over business doesn’t require face to face meetings like it did before.
“People work on the trains now, I can’t see how a few minutes will make much difference.”
The couple had intended to move closer to their families in the next ten years, but now they are stuck, along with the rest of the village, unable to sell their homes.
Villagers fear it will see the demise of the village, like others along the route, with all residents unable to move out of the area and no new life coming into the community.
In the last few days residents lining the route have been warned of noise, light, and vibration effects which they were not previously told about.
Philip added: “People in the village just can’t stand what’s happening, we are going to have this hanging over us for 15 years before they even start building.”
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Comments
There are 12 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
seedee
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 04:54 PMHas anyone heard a modern train on welded rails? It's not like the old "clickety clackety . noise that trains used to make. We has a meal at the Walnut Tree hotel in Blisworth the other day, that is about 100 yards from the high speed line and i saw a lot of Virgin trains shoot by, I don't remember hearing them , just seeing them. I know business people who have to go from Brum to London these people need to have a seat and a table to work on . I had to go to London from town on an early train and there wasn't much room in it!
here and there
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 09:47 PM@SteveRiches You are very commendable. I live near the route and I fully see the case for this line. A Conservative government wouldn't push through such a project through their electoral heartland if there wasn't a true case. The West Coast Mainline is almost full and remember freight uses the line too, it isn't a case of simply providing more trains. It will also address the north-south divide which might 'God Forbid' address some of the housing pressures in the South-East and South Midlands and this may mean NIMBYs elsewhere can dodge housing developments 'saving village life'.
SteveRiches
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 06:02 AMI live in Flore. To the east is a heaving M1, to the west is the busy London to Birmingham rail line, yet village life seems to continue. You can hear both but I use both so how can I complain? Certainly some of the cost of the new rail link should go toward sound-screening and visual protection but our rail system can't stay in an antiquated state for ever.
AbingtonAll
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:45 PMI wish NIMBYS would stop moaning about how it will only go to Birmingham. Phase 1 goes to Brum, but phase 2 goes up ManchesterLeeds, with phase 3 up to EdinburghGlasgow. Oil is running out and short haul flying is on borrowed time. Personally i'd rather be able to get around the country fast in the future. Kingsthorpe chap knows what he's talking about.
TheCount
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 08:40 PMStill, look on the brightside. Jobs for people, better travel options for people. Millions will benefit. A few will loose out. Lifes hard, get used to it.
Kingsthorpe Chap
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 06:09 PMIf he is retired when this comes operation he will well into his 80's or as Lady Muck siad in another post they will bw in the great station in the sky so why complain now
Kingsthorpe Chap
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 06:06 PMI notice they live a quarter of a mile from the proposed site can't spoil the view that much
Removed by moderator
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 05:56 PMThat new rail line looks lovely. Progress!
lady muck
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 04:46 PMThe irony that Mr Freer used to commute from Banbury to London, seems to have escaped them.
Kingsthorpe Chap
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 04:12 PMmabbuttjose its called progress I'm afraid some of the places I played on in Kingsthorpe have gone to but thats progress.
Kingsthorpe Chap
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 03:32 PMAs stated on a previous comment I work on the WCML and the route tio Birmingham is very busy all day. HS2 will relieve this route immensely and will benefit people living in Milton Keynes Northampton Rugby Coventry as people from London will use HS2 to get to Birmingham. Currently London Euston to Birmingham New Street takes roughly 1hr 30 mins on HS2 it will only take 49 mins. .
mabbuttjose
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 02:38 PMI do not know if i am for or against HS2 as it does not affect me personaly.But i do know i grew up in a railway cottage in Buckinghamshire and loved every minute of it vibrations and all.Then along came Milton Keynes .i know it was forty years ago but anybody who knew that countryside as well as i did will tell you that it was absolute sacrilege.Whole villages destroyed .All farms goneAll fields gone for a radius of about thirty miles and we could do nothing about it Even now on the odd occasion that i visit Milton Keynes it still affects me.It even cause the lady next door to take her own life under a train
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