Three out of four HS2 compensation claims rejected

Irate residents have accused the Government of helping 'virtually nobody' affected by the £33 billion HS2 project.

Campaigners, led by Staffordshire businessman Trevor Forrester, have now launched the biggest joint lawsuit in legal history to derail the HS2 plans.

It emerged today that of 412 applications decided so far, 299 have been refused with 113 accepted. A further 43 are still being considered.

The HS2 route will link London and Birmingham, passing through swathes of Staffordshire, in the first phase before forking north to Leeds and Manchester.

Hilary Wharf, director of HS2 Action Alliance, said: "The rules of the exceptional hardship scheme are being drawn far too tightly.

"This is a compensation scheme that the evidence shows is simply not fit for purpose. It offers compensation to virtually nobody and this is despite the hundreds of thousands of homes blighted, many rendered unsellable, with only a tiny fraction of people qualifying for the scheme.

"HS2 is causing enormous stress and worry as it destroys the value of people's homes and wrecks the plans that they have made."

The hardship scheme requires applicants to prove a pressing need to move. Richard Buist, 41, and his wife Anna, 39, are among those who have seen their application dismissed. The couple spent £695,000 on a farmhouse at Weeford, near Lichfield, in the hope of raising a family.

Mrs Buist, a nurse, suffered a miscarriage five months after undergoing IVF treatment, and the couple resigned themselves to not being able to have children. Mr Buist, the managing director of an engineering firm, said the couple now wanted to move to a smaller home. They have been trying to sell the house for two years but claim buyers are put off by the impact of the HS2 link, which would be 350 yards away.

He said:?"It's bad enough that we moved here to have a family and we can't do that, but we are stuck here."

Transport Minister Simon Burns said: "The Exceptional Hardship Scheme is working well – so far there have been 113 successful applications and we have already spent over £48 million purchasing 81 homes along the first phase of the route between London and Birmingham at their full un-blighted market value."