Residents who had their lives turned upside down when they were forced to sell their beloved family homes to be demolished for the HS2 railway project have been left furious on discovering they are now being quietly put back on the market – after half the scheme was scrapped.
Some had lived in their homes in Bonsall Street in the Derbyshire market town of Long Eaton for over three decades – and planned to stay there for life.
But they were told they had no say when it was decided the houses had to be bulldozed to make way for a viaduct to carry new trains to Leeds as part of the controversial project.
The Department for Transport forced those living in a swathe of one side of Bonsall Street to sell up – issuing a Compulsory Purchase Order on homes on the odd-numbered side of the road.
At least 13 homes on the street, which backs directly onto an existing rail line, were sold to the government before the proposed line north to Leeds was shelved last year due to spiralling costs.
Former residents of Bonsall Street (above) in the Derbyshire market town of Long Eaton have been left furious after discovering that their old homes have been quietly put back on the market after the Leeds leg of HS2 was scrapped
At least 13 homes on the numbered side of the road were sold to the government after a Compulsory Purchase Order was issued by the Department for Transport
Bill Hughes (pictured), 74, sold his home for £110,000 in May 2019. Nobody has lived there since
After 14 years of fretting about HS2, the residents of Bonsall Street in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, still don’t know if they are coming or going
Homes beside the existing railway line on Bonsall Street (pictured) in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, face an uncertain future. The proposed HS2 line is set to tear through the community, but only last month it was reported the Government is considering scrapping the eastern leg of the high speed line altogether, meaning it wouldn’t reach them at all
The black dotted lines indicate the route of HS2 as it goes over where one side of Bonsall Street is at the moment
Station Cottage in Launton, Oxfordshire, was also bought up to make way for the new train link that hopes to ‘unite the country’
The DfT still owns the homes and to try to recoup a tiny fraction of the estimated £40 billion cost of the disastrous rail project is now selling or renting the houses back to the public – without any announcement.
But the news that the houses are being turned back into homes has provoked incendiary anger among former residents whose lives were turned upside down – only for the whole saga to have been for nothing.
One semi-detached house number 53 is currently up for sale for £80,000 via online estate agent, Purplebricks.
There is no ‘for sale’ sign outside and neighbours on both sides were unaware the property was back on the market.
The three-bedroom home had been sold to the government for £120,000 in August 2020.
A few doors along – number 69 – is currently being rented out to a family of tenants. Its previous owners were Val and Stephen Richardson, both 66.
Mr Richardson said: ‘My wife lived in that house for 30-years or so, it was the first property she bought and absolutely loved the place.
Mexborough (top right, highlighted in yellow), near Doncaster, was meant to be part of the HS2 line before that section was scrapped, but not before homes were sold on the estate
Maps show the controversial line is supposed to cut through the Packington Moor Farm shop in Lichfield (faded section northwest of Tamworth)
Packington Moor Farm shop in Lichfield where the owners have moved on after being forced to sell up to make way for HS2
‘You’d have had to prise her out to get her out the door – which is what HS2 effectively did when they told us that the property needed to be torn down to make way for a rail line and viaduct.
‘That never happened and the house that was her pride and joy is now being rented out to someone else. It adds insult to injury.
‘The whole process of finding somewhere else was a complete nightmare, in terms of the stress of finding someone else to live.
‘We had many happy memories in Bonsall Street, my wife had already been living there for years when I met her.
One semi-detached house, number 53, is currently up for sale for £80,000 via online estate agent Purplebricks, after being bought by the government for £120,000 four years ago
‘And it turns out that in the end we gave up that home for no reason, it’s very frustrating.’
The Richardsons felt they had no choice when they sold their terraced home in 2018 for £90,000 after being told it was earmarked for demolition.
Mr Richardson and his wife ended up moving to a detached house in another part of town that belonged to his wife’s late mother.
The whole affair left the Richardsons some £50,000 out of pocket as well as leaving Val deeply upset.
Mr Richardson explained: ‘My wife’s mother passed away and so we were left the house in the will, although we had to buy out her two brothers – at £70,000 each – to take over the mortgage.
Grandmother Diana Haig, 60, was forced to move from her end terrace in 2018 and sold up to the government for £115,000.
She now lives in another terrace a mile away that she bought for the same price.
The HS2 high-speed rail line is a ‘loss-making’ project, which will not be completed before 2041, Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen warned the House of Commons. The phase 2b route from Birmingham to Leeds, Chesterfield and York via the East Midlands Hub at Toton has already been scrapped. Earlier this month the government said the Birmingham Curzon Street to Crewe part of HS2 will be delayed by two years. The extension to Manchester Piccadilly was delayed by 20 years, with the service not expected until the 2043
Her former home is now rented by Margarita Krasnauska, 34, who lives there with her young son and her brother. The family, originally from Latvia, pay £775-a-month.
Mrs Haig said: ‘It took two and a half years for me to find the home I’m in now and it was an extremely stressful time. I tried to move three times prior to this house but each time the sale fell through.
‘I’d been in the house on Bonsall Street for 14 years and my three kids had most of their childhood there.
‘I’d put new windows in, had the garden landscaped. I’d made the place nice and homely and was happy and settled.
‘But when the government pushed leaflets through the door telling us that the street was basically being condemned and they were going to build a rail line through it, I didn’t have a choice.
‘I didn’t want to be in limbo so I accepted their offer. Along with the ten per cent compensation, I got about £125,000 in total.
‘The Government also covered all my legal fees and removal fees. The only thing they wouldn’t pay was the £400-or-so it cost to break my fixed-term mortgage.
One terrace, previously owned by Grandmother Diana Haig, 60, was bought by the government in 2018 for £115,000 and is now being rented to a family for £775-a-month
Despite the HS2 line being cancelled and no building work taking place the CPO remains and those residents who resisted selling to the Government say they have been ‘trapped’ because they cannot sell unless it’s to the DfT or cash buyers due to nobody being able to get a mortgage
Eight homes on the street currently stand empty, with many on the market at knockdown rates
‘My argument was that I wouldn’t need to come out of it if they weren’t making me move.
‘In the end it was all for nothing as that particular HS2 line never got built and they’ve now had to rent out the property.’
At least two other homes on the street are also being rented while another eight currently stand empty, some need urgent repair work before they can be re-sold or let.
Bill Hughes, 74, sold his home for £110,000 in May 2019. Nobody has lived there since.
He now lives in a two bed terrace a short distance from his old home and said: ‘They’ve ripped the heart out of the community on Bonsall Street.
‘A lot of the houses sit empty, like mine. Others are being rented or sold at knockdown prices.
‘The HS2 people offered me £110,000 – but I’d had it valued at that price some years before.
‘They also wanted to take off £15,000 due to structural issues – even though the house was going to be flattened.
‘In the end they took off two grand, but I still thought it was a bloody cheek!’
Shaun Higgins, 58, who has been living in his home for 25 years, told : ‘I’d never sell to the Government, they’ve treated us like muck’ (pictured, a house on Bonsall Street)
Bonsall Street already backs on to an existing rail line (pictured)
Despite the HS2 line being cancelled and no building work taking place the CPO remains and those residents who resisted selling to the Government say they have been ‘trapped’ because they cannot sell unless it’s to the DfT or cash buyers due to nobody being able to get a mortgage.
Shaun Higgins, 58, who has been living in his home for 25 years, told : ‘Our side of the street is nearest to the rail line so the Government basically said they needed our homes for the HS2 link up to Leeds.
‹ Slide me › Just 160 families had moved in and the remainder were still being built by developers Strata when a letter dropped from HS2, revealing the line was coming straight through the estate on its way to Leeds
‘We were told to sell up because a CPO was going to be made which would eventually force us to sell to them at a knock-down rate.
‘Some residents accepted the offer, others like me gambled and stayed put but the CPO remains in place, perhaps because the Government may decide to rekindle the HS2 plans in the future.
‘A friend of mine further up the street sold for just £115,000 and he was devastated because he expected a lot more. It triggered a nervous breakdown.
‘I’m lucky, I’ve nearly paid the mortgage off and I’m due to inherit another house and when that time comes, my wife and I are going to move out and rent this place ourselves.
‘I’d never sell to the Government, they’ve treated us like muck.’
A detached property on the side of Bonsall Street covered by the CPO sold for £175,000 in 2016.
Local estate agent Gary Ata, who has run Noble Living in Long Eaton since 2004, added: ‘Ten years or so ago house prices for that side of the street could go for £150,000 on average.
‘But now they are going for much less and it’s sad. People can’t sell or get a mortgage there until the CPO is lifted and we don’t know when that’ll be.’