Villagers 'over the moon' as PM scraps HS2 northern leg
Villagers on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border who have been campaigning for the last six years over HS2, are celebrating after the Prime Minister scrapped the Birmingham to Manchester leg on Thursday.
The village of Woore, near Market Drayton, has been on a designated route for construction traffic for Phase 2a of the major rail project, covering the line between the Birmingham and Crewe.
Villagers feared their rural roads would have been choked by up to 700 HGVs a day, and have been campaigning against the high speed rail line since 2017.
Now following Rishi Sunak's announcement on Wednesday, in which he announced that the northern leg of HS2 is to be scrapped, villagers in Woore say they are 'over the moon' by the decision .
Woore Parish Council's Vice Chair, Rachel Goodman, said the announcement followed "years of worry and uncertainty."
"We are over the moon by the decision," she said. "We are really pleased and welcome the announcement, especially as it was very clear and that it is cancelled."
She said when doubts first emerged earlier this year whether the northern leg would go ahead, the village it had been "prolonging the agony"
"The general feeling in the village is of relief that it is all over and there is an end to the uncertainty. Earlier in the year there was so much uncertainty it was just prolonging the agony," she said. "It has been six years of worrying and uncertainty. We were on the route from the M6 and we were expecting hundreds of trucks in the village each day.
"Parents were worried from a safety point of view as we have primary schools in the village losing the main road, and it has affected the whole community- residents, landowners, local shops and local businesses, and even farmers.
"Some people have even sold up and moved out of the village because of HS2, and people have said that the uncertainty has meant they struggled to find buyers because of the impact."
Speculation as been brewing all week that the PM would scrap the northern route, which has received strong criticism from northern politicians and even West Midlands Mayor Andy Street.
On Thursday, at the Conservative Party Conference, which was being held in Manchester, the PM put an end to the rumours by cancelling "the rest of the HS2 project" completely.
Councillor Goodman added: "I don't think we quite believed it until we heard it. Once it has sunk in there will be a few corks popping, I imagine.
"The best thing is that we can now get back to normal village life and normal village conversations."
