Man who sold home because of HS2 says his life was turned 'upside down'
Video report by Granada Reports Journalist Jennifer Buck
A man who was forced to sell his house to make way for the now scrapped Northern leg of HS2 says his life was turned "upside down".
Rishi Sunak axed the Manchester leg of HS2 during the Conservative Party conference, finally confirming widely reported news he has been calling "speculation" for weeks.
Andrew Daniel, who lives in the village of Ashley in Cheshire, says he was forced to sell his home to HS2 at a reduced price and now rents it back from them.
It is the family home that he has lived in for 65 years.
Andrew said: "It's quite annoying really. The process we've been through has cost a lot of money through lawyers.
"I really didn't want to sell this house, I wanted to live in it all my life. Selling it was a pretty heartbreaking thing to do really. We had no choice but to sell.
"HS2 has turned my life upside down, I've got a few more grey hairs now. I am quite angry about it.
"One valuer came round and said it was worth nothing because HS2 was coming through it."
Andrew says he sold his house for around 30% less than what he thought it was worth. He added that he is not expecting to hear from HS2 about the future of his home anytime soon.
Jeremy Oddie, from Ringway Manchester, lives on a road with 10 houses. Five have been sold to HS2, including his next door neighbour.
He says HS2 want to "engage" with him but do not want to buy his house even though he will be surrounded by depots.
He says the road cannot take the heavy goods vehicles and infrastructure needed to build HS2 and the area would have been ruined by the project.
Jeremy said: "My neighbours and I constantly phoned, emailed and written to by HS2 and it became very waring.
"It is incredibly stressful, you have no peace. You hope something will sort itself out and it doesn't. The little community that was here isn't anymore."
After HS2 was cancelled, Jeremy said: "I'm terribly relieved. It will give some respite. One has to consider what may be offered as an alternative.
"If there are links between Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester, then inevitably that's going to impact the area again.
"HS2 will leave a legacy of blight across all the properties it has touched and I can't see how that's going to be removed easily."
Rishi Sunak gave a speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester where he scrapped the northern leg of HS2
Announcing the move in his Conservative Party conference speech in Manchester, he said: "The right thing to do when the facts change, is to have the courage to change direction. So I am ending this long running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project."
The prime minister said £36 billion previously ring-fenced for a high speed rail line from London to Manchester would instead be allocated to infrastructure projects to provide better transport links across the north of England.
It comes as land earmarked for HS2 routes now scrapped will not be protected for potential future expansion of the high-speed railway, the Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed.
Railway consultant William Barter described the decision as “ludicrous” and an act of “spite”.
Andy Burnham, Mayor for Greater Manchester, gave his thoughts on the cancellation of the northern leg
Under a process known as safeguarding, land on those routes was protected to stop conflicting developments taking place.
Some residents also voluntarily sold their homes to HS2 Ltd.
The DfT said safeguarding will be lifted in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire “at the earliest opportunity” to “remove the uncertainty that has surrounded thousands of people along the route”.
Phase 2a safeguarding will be formally lifted in the coming weeks.
For Phase 2b – between the West Midlands and Manchester – safeguarding will be amended by summer 2024 to allow for plans under Northern Powerhouse Rail.
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