HS2 will force us out of homes
High speed rail is looming ever larger on the horizon for homeowners and businesses in the region who face their lives being thrown into turmoil by the controversial scheme.
moreScores of buildings will be reduced to rubble, historic woodland lost forever and acres of green space churned up to make way for the £43 billion HS2 line.
And after a first bill paving way for the scheme was passed in Parliament, those in its path are contemplating life-changing consequences.
Richard Williams faces the prospect of being forced from the childhood home where he has lived all his life.
The proposed route slices almost through the middle of his 120-acres at Park Farm in Weston Road, near the Staffordshire County Showground.
The farmhouse he shares with his wife Julie, 53, their barns, a converted farmhouse and the bed and breakfast they run would all be reduced to rubble to make way for the new train line.
Mr Williams said: "I always said I'd never leave the farm, unless it was in a wooden box. My father moved here in 1941 and he bought the farm in 1964. I grew up here.
"When the route was announced in January we were absolutely devastated. We are going to be absolutely blitzed. Basically we'll be forced out of our home."
The couple's daughter Claire Preston lives on the farm in one of the barn conversions with her two young children.
The 32-year-old said: "I always wanted to stay near my parents. I've never seen myself moving anywhere else.
"The plan was that we would take over the running of the farm when my parents couldn't do it anymore."
Mr Williams, aged 57, added: "It's not just our home it's our business as well and something we want to pass down to our children. If this goes ahead, we won't be able to pass it down through the generations."
He said the train line would slice the farmland almost straight down the middle, leaving 40 acres on one side and 80 acres on the other.
If given the go-ahead, HS2 will also swallow around a third of Ingestre Golf Club near Stafford.
Seven of the 18 holes will be churned up to make way for HS2 and the track will run just 450ft from the clubhouse.
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Honorary secretary Brian Robson said the club, which is celebrating its centenary year, would be forced to move elsewhere.
The 78-year-old said: "The line is going to cut three fairways in half and is going to affect at least seven holes.
"There is going to be a three or four metre high viaduct and it's not going to be far from the clubhouse.
"The line goes maybe 150 yards from the clubhouse. It means we'll probably be able to feel the vibrations."
Mr Robson said for the 600 or so members at the club, the prospect of the club having to move was 'unthinkable' but he said they would continue to 'soldier on'.
He said: "When the route was first announced our members were up in arms. It's a superb club and a great place to come.
"It might not be important to everyone. I know it's not the same as losing your home but it's important to us. We'll just have to soldier on."
The club has been at its current site for the past 39 years.
Previously it was situated in nearby Kingston Hill. Grandfather-of-12 Mr Robson, who is from Gnosall, has been involved with the club for the past 28 years.
The project would see trains travelling at more than 200mph through swathes of Staffordshire countryside.
To the south of the county another golf course is also set to be on the trail of destruction.
The Victorian clubhouse at Whittington Heath Golf Club is earmarked for demolition with the trains going through a minimum of eight holes of the 127-year-old course.
Before the site became a golf course it was home to Lichfield racecourse.
It hosted meets since 1702 and by the middle of the century was the only racecourse in Staffordshire.
The current clubhouse is the old grandstand.
Nearly 150 acres of rare heathland will be torn up next door to the club at Whittington Barracks and 129 acres of ancient woodland around Lichfield affected.
Ravenshaw Wood, Slaish, and Black Slough woods would be hit and Vicars Copse, which is 62 metres from the line, would be damaged by noise and vibration during the line's construction.
Under plans a viaduct would also have to be built over the Great Haywood Marina where dozens of narrowboat owners dock.
Staffordshire Against HS2 campaigner Rolfe Pearce said the arrangement was 'bonkers'.
He said: "When the plans emerged we actually had to point out to HS2 that there was a marina there.
"They will literally have a huge railway track going over their heads if this goes ahead.
"What is currently a relaxing and tranquil way of life on the boats will have trains roaring past at 200mph every few minutes."
The future of a dog rescue centre in the village of Colton near Rugeley is also being questioned as a result of HS2.
Border Collie Trust GB rescues up to 500 dogs per year from across the country. Its site will be 120 metres from the proposed line.
Trustee Ben Wilkes, who has volunteered at the base since 1997, said while the trust board has agreed the centre should continue as normal, they will now be kept in the dark until HS2 is built before knowing the impact it will have on their work. Jim Prinold, aged 70, his wife Mary, 68, son Peter, 48, and daughter Laura, 22, farm arable crop at Sunny Hill Farm in Marston.
Initial proposals show the line cutting through their land and buildings, meaning the family business of 20 years would be destroyed.
Mr Prinold grew up in the area and bought the farm two decades ago. He had hoped to pass the farm over to his two children but the Government's plans have thrown the future of the family business in doubt.
Phase one would cut rail times between Birmingham and London to 49 minutes, HS2 Ltd says, while phase two forks north to terminals in Leeds and Manchester. Construction is scheduled to start in 2016.
In a potential blow to the HS2 scheme, former business secretary Lord Mandelson this week urged Labour and the Government to think again, warning it could prove 'an expensive mistake' and 'damaging' to the northern regions it is intended to help.
Lord Mandelson admitted that Labour's decision to back the scheme enthusiastically in the run-up to the 2010 general election was 'partly politically-driven' and did not give sufficient consideration to alternatives.
The Labour peer said that those – including himself – who previously backed the plan 'should not offer it an open cheque and should, instead, insist on keeping their options open'.
While Labour's leadership remains supportive of the high-speed rail link, disquiet within the party about the scheme had earlier been exposed when former chancellor Alistair Darling declared himself an 'HS2 sceptic'.
Lord Mandelson said: "I once supported High Speed 2, a proposed rail link from London to the North that the Labour government of which I was a member first put forward. There are no simple options when it comes to transport – but I now fear HS2 could be an expensive mistake."
Labour's plans were based on an estimated cost of £30 billion and on a central assumption that its construction would spread growth across the country, which was 'neither quantified nor proved', said the peer.
And he acknowledged that Gordon Brown's government was at that point driven by the search for major infrastructure projects which might inject vitality into the economy in the wake of the financial crash.
Alternatives, such as upgrading the east and west coast main lines, regional rail improvements and mass transit systems in provincial cities, 'were not actively considered' by the Labour administration as it gave the green light to HS2.
"In 2010, when the then Labour government decided to back HS2, we did so based on the best estimates of what it would involve," said Lord Mandelson. "But these were almost entirely speculative.
"The decision was also partly politically driven. In addition to the projected cost, we gave insufficient attention to the massive disruption to many people's lives construction would bring. Why? Not because we were indifferent but because we believed the national interest required such bold commitment to modernisation."
And he added: "By all means, let the cost-benefit analysis, and even the paving legislation currently going through Parliament, continue.
"But all the parties – especially Labour – should think twice before binding themselves irrevocably to HS2. It is not all it seems and has the potential to end up a mistake, damaging in particular to those people that it was intended to help."
