Residents living in a once-picturesque countryside village say it has been ‘destroyed’ by HS2 construction which has left them unable to sell their properties.
Homeowners in Water Orton, Warwickshire, have complained that ‘estate agents won’t touch them’ amid the ‘monster’ concrete works which are not set to be completed for more than six years.
Some have reported their homes being damaged by vibrations caused by heavy machinery, with one Ukrainian refugee living in the area describing the noise as ‘louder than the bombs in Kyiv’.
Families have been left with little choice but to try and move away from the village, which has been so severely affected that its primary school – already moved to accommodate HS2 – is cutting its capacity.
But many residents are trapped – with buyers unwilling to move there and HS2 offering ‘not very good’ sums for properties near the 3.5-mile-long tunnel.
Dad-of-three Edward Franklin, a 60-year-old engineer, had planned to downsize once his three daughters had grown up. Those plans have however been scuppered by construction works.
He said: ‘We have lived here for 29 years, our three children grew up here, and we remember the fields all around.
‘The vibrations from the work has caused our house to shake and has led to cracks appearing in our plaster, floor tiles, wall tiles and our ceilings.
‘There’s 11 properties on the street who have all reported the same. We can’t sit in our garden because of the dust either.
‘We had a builder assess the damage outside and he said it was around £7,000 roughly to repair, we held off on decorating because of the works by HS2 and they still haven’t sent a loss adjuster round.
‘But it is hard to fight what seems to be a faceless organisation.’
His wife Linda, a retired nurse, told the BBC: ‘It’s destroyed our home, I’m embarrassed about our home, it’s falling apart.
‘I dread coming home, it’s just destroying every part of it. The minute they know where we are, they’ve said categorically because of HS2 they can’t market it, nobody will put a mortgage on it, the only way we’ll get a buyer is a cash buyer.
‘On a good day it’s frustrating. On a bad day it’s devastating, I could cry. We are stuck, we’re just in limbo. It feels like there’s no end to it, there’s no way out of it all.’
Other residents have complained of dust and dirt from carved up green land wafting into their gardens and leaving the village under the lingering smell of rotten eggs.
Felicitas Freeman, a 67-year-old retired company director and economist, said her life had been ‘destroyed’ by the project.
She added: ‘You just cannot prepare yourself for the noise as it varies in intensity so much.
‘It’s like we are collateral damage in the supposed national interest and life is pretty miserable as a result.
‘I took in a lady from Ukraine called Tanya for a while and she said the noise was worse than the bombs in Kyiv.
‘I live in constant dread – sometimes my dog cowers howling under the table. The severity, pitch and longevity of the noise is always changing.
‘When they started with their equipment, I thought I was having a heart attack and my chest felt compressed. I spoke to my neighbour who said he’d had the same sensation too.
‘It causes really deep vibrations and causes the ground to shake. There’s also an awful smell in the air from the soil being dug up for the tunnel. I doubt they even did an environmental impact assessment.
‘It is constant and they also work at night, so it affects your sleep, which then affects your body and your mind. I’d invite anyone to spend a week here and see how long they last. It is hellish.’
Another local resident, grandmother-of-one Joyce Parkinson, 63, added: ‘This was a stunning village before HS2. But now we’re surrounded by a building site. Our beautiful countryside has been carved up.’
Last year, the government confirmed the high-speed rail project would not be completed as planned by 2033, blaming mismanagement by the Conservatives.
HS2 said it acknowledged some people would experience effects as a result of construction and urged residents to continue to talk to local engagement teams.
A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: ‘We take our responsibilities to local communities very seriously and our CEO, Mark Wild, met with local councillors recently to hear their concerns.
‘We try to minimise the impacts of construction wherever possible and have built a haul road to take construction traffic off local roads and ensure heavy goods vehicles doesn’t travel through Water Orton village or pass people’s homes.
‘We’ve also listened carefully to local residents and introduced a range of measures based on their feedback.
‘Additional noise mitigation, road sweeping, window cleaning, and access to car washing facilities are just some of the measures now in place, and we encourage the residents to keep talking to us so we can act on their concerns.’
