Published: 26 January 2012
by DAN CARRIER

THE transport secretary behind a government scheme to drive a high-speed rail link through Regent’s Park estate has declined the chance to meet a war hero living in one of the blocks due to be demolished.

The HS2 link rubber-stamped by Coalition minister Justine Greening will see a route carved out from Old Oak Common in west London to a new terminus at Euston.

To build this stretch of the London-Birmingham line, costing £2.5bn, Stan Passmore, 85, a war veteran who served in the Royal Navy during World War II, will be kicked out of his home of 40 years.

He has not been told where he will be rehoused.

The New Journal asked the Department of Transport if Ms Greening had plans to visit the estate.

After a week of requests, the department said yesterday (Wednes­day) there were no plans to visit.

If the minister did come to the estate, she would meet a man who risked his life in one of the most dangerous operations of the war – and also hear that this is not the first time Mr Passmore has been forced out of his home.

During the war the Royal Navy radar operator was bombed out of his family’s home in south Camden.

After the war the family moved to Kenton Street in Bloomsbury, which they were evicted from again as the street was cleared to make room for the Brunswick Centre. They were offered compen­sation of £50 per room.

The family were moved to Harlow – “we were the last in the street to move as we didn’t want to go,” he recalls –  and longed for a return to Camden.

When Mr Passmore’s mother was diagnosed with TB, he found a family on the newly-built Regent’s Park estate willing to swap.

It was 1961 and he has been in his fourth-floor flat ever since.

During the war Mr Passmore served on HMS Cassandra, a ship under frequent attack as it plied an icy Arctic route delivering vital supplies to the Russians.

He said: “It was always freezing cold.

We were constantly covered in ice.”

Based at Scapa Flow in northern Scotland, he and his comrades dodged  attack after attack.

His luck held for three journeys – but then his ship was hit by a torpedo.

Sixty-six crew members died.

He remembers Regent’s Park estate just after it was built.

“The place was full of people who worked locally – post­men, railway work­ers,” he said.

“It was a community and felt like a village.”

He understands he will have to move.

“We want a guarantee of new flats before our homes are destroyed and for our community to be able to stay together,” he said.

“I have known people here all my life.

But no one has shown any interest in what we might want, and it feels like no one cares for us.

They  may not do anything for 10 years. I’ll be 95 by then. I’d like to know where I am going to be.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “Rebuilding Euston will inevitably cause significant disruption but we are committed to working closely with Camden with the intention of agreeing a joint strategy and providing new social housing to replace any compulsorily purchased.

“This will include engagement with local people, businesses and community represent­atives.”