Published: 12 January 2012
by DAN CARRIER

HOMES and businesses will be torn down and a neighbourhood destroy­ed by government plans to send a new high-speed rail link from Birmingham into Euston, campaigners have warned.

The £33billion High Speed Two (HS2) project was rubber-stamped by Conservative transport secretary Justine Greening on Tuesday in the face of stiff opposition.

Due to be operating by 2026, it will mean a complete redevelopment of Euston station and the demolition of the Eskdale, Silverdale, Ainsdale and Stalybridge blocks at the Regent’s Park estate in Hampstead Road.

Estate residents say they have had no word from the government or Camden Council about where they will be re-housed, or the levels of compensation they will receive for losing their homes.

Jane Sanchez-Gull has owned her flat in one of the threatened blocks for five years, while her husband Louis has lived on the estate for 35 years.

She said: “No one knows what will happen and it is awful to have this hanging over us.

We have a well-established and strong community, which will be torn apart.

One of my neighbours is 80 years old and has lived here for 50 years.

She does not want to move and the lack of information just adds to the worry.”

Mrs Sanchez-Gull, who works in Camden, and her husband, who has a business in the borough, say they have not been told what sort of compensation they will be offered – nor whether it will be enough to cover buying somewhere comparable in the area.

She said: “We think we are going to be forced out.

No one has said anything to us about compensation.” The consultation process to gauge the views of people living in blocks due to be bulldozed was nothing more than a box-ticking exercise, she claimed.

“It was a farce,” she said. “You could only complete it online unless you asked specifically for a paper version and not every one was given a form.

“It was written in ridiculous language that was hard to understand and packed full of jargon.

It was not fair for people who live here for whom English is not their first language.”

Jairo Jaramillo, who has lived in the Ainsdale block for 25 years, said that, apart from a small exhibition organised by HS2 a year ago, residents had heard next to nothing.

He said: “They did a roadshow for homeowners and said at that point they had no details for us but would be in touch.

We have heard nothing since.

It is massively unsettling for us.”

He added that, with current council house waiting lists reaching nearly 20,000, he did not see how those losing their homes would be re-housed.

Peter Jones, of the pan-Camden HS2 Alliance, said the decision to press ahead with the new rail line defied “all sensible analysis”.

He said: “This is the equivalent of massive open-heart surgery in the centre of Euston while the patient is still awake and at their desk.”

His campaign drew up detailed alternative proposals that would have seen a terminus created at west London’s Old Oak Common, saving about £2.5billion.

His group believes it would offer better transport links to Heathrow, the M1 and Crossrail.

That plea has so far been ignored.

Mr Jones said: “The route has not really changed at all – except for avoiding Wentworth Golf Course.”

Holborn and St Pancras Labour MP Frank Dobson, who campaigned to have the route end at Old Oak Common, said: “We need guarantees now, not a lot of flannel for the next five years.”

He is meeting Ms Greening next week to argue the case for ensuring there are concrete proposals in place before any work starts.

He added: “People are entitled to know what is happening.”

Ms Greening said she felt sorry for households which would be hit by the new line.

She added: “I recognise that, whatever the mitigation measures, there can be little comfort in knowing that the country will benefit enormously from HS2 when it’s your home that’s affected by the line.

“I will be introducing a range of compensation measures to help affected home-owners over and above what they are already entitled to under law.

There is some way to go yet before the building work begins and we will consult on the compensation arrangements in the spring.”

The Town Hall has attacked the decision to bring the route to Euston and local politicians of all parties have opposed it.

Lib Dem councillor Paul Braithwaite and Tory Jonny Bucknell protested against the scheme at their party conferences at the end of last year.

Camden Labour environment chief Councillor Sue Vincent said 40 businesses would be hit on top of the loss of homes, open spaces destroyed and a “significant number” of listed buildings demolished.

She said: “It is incomprehensible to spend billions of pounds in a project of folly that takes away people’s homes, schools and businesses.

Construction work will bring a damning blight for almost a decade once the dust has finally settled.”

But a spokesman for the Department of Transport said that, as the project progresses, these issues will be tackled.

He added: “We will work closely with Camden Council and affected residents to make sure arrangements are in place to meet the future housing needs of those affected blocks.”