HS2 accused of ‘madness’ after spending £37m buying homes – long after routes were axed
HS2 has been accused of “madness” after new figures revealed it spent £37 million of taxpayers’ money buying homes, long after parts of the high-speed rail line were scrapped.
Two years ago then chancellor Rishi Sunak scrapped phase 2 of the HS2 line from the West Midlands to Manchester – but Independent It can reveal bosses continued to buy properties via the now-cancelled route and made a profit of £25.5m from 25 properties by October this year.
At least £1 million was spent on 10 properties and more than £2 million on three. Five of these were purchased in the affluent Altrincham area just outside Manchester.
HS2, on behalf of the Department for Transport, spent £11.7 million on 30 properties from Birmingham to Leeds, the eastern leg of phase 2, after it was canceled in two parts in 2021 and 2023, according to figures obtained through Freedom of Information laws.
HS2, which has long come under fire for repeated delays and rising costs despite being downsized, said it was honoring property purchases that began before the line cancellations and said the purchases “inevitably take time to complete”. Measures to preserve land for the originally proposed line between Birmingham and Leeds, which were in place until July this year, meant property owners could still sell to HS2 even if that part of the line was scrapped.
Former Tory minister Sir Gavin Williamson, whose Staffordshire constituency is heavily affected by the beleaguered project, described the spending as “madness”, while Stop HS2 campaigner Joe Rukin described it as “waste and scandal”.
Sir Gavin said: “This just shows the madness of HS2. The truth is that it has been two years since the cancellation of HS2 Phase Two was announced.” [Handsacre to Manchester]…and frankly, it’s crazy that they’re still buying property.
“Even though they had made legal agreements with people before HS2 stage 2 was halted, this should have been resolved within six months of the announcement and no new property should now be purchased at all.
“What you would actually expect to see is properties being sold off to pay the money back to the Treasury.”
Following the lifting of measures to protect land on Leeds’ eastern foot, the government has announced it will put 500 properties, many currently rented, back on the market from January.
But while ministers consider plans for a new rail route, no decisions have been made about properties on land where the HS2 line will connect north Birmingham to Manchester.
Sir Gavin described the plan as “fantasy politics” and called on the government to begin “liberating” the land immediately. Sir Gavin said a third of the homes in his constituency village of Hopton had been bought by HS2.
In the Staffordshire village of Whitmore Heath, people said: Independent Around 35 of the 50 homes purchased by HS2 and one while vacant were converted into cannabis farms, fragmenting their communities.
Lichfield MP Dave Robertson also said: Independent: “This [the £37m spend] This is another example of HS2’s major oversight flaws and people in my area will be very angry about it. I recently met Mike Brown [the new chair of HS2]And I know he wants to do better. “But it shows just how big the task ahead is and how far HS2 must go to rebuild public trust.”
As reported in August, HS2 said it had spent £633 million buying property for now-derelict sections of the high-speed line, with only the London to Birmingham line still being built.
As of May this year, 73 per cent of HS2’s 1,475 properties were rented, but many remained empty due to the cost of bringing them up to “rental standard” or due to imminent demolition.
Mr Rukin, whose anti-HS2 group has backed the line of undermining many communities, said: “It is sadly typical of the way HS2 Ltd treat the public that they continue to buy land they know they will not need. “It is both wasteful and scandalous.
“Millions of pounds have been wasted due to the cost of buying this land and it is scandalous that HS2 Ltd is not only forcing people to sell, but that many of these people cannot afford to buy back their own homes and land because of the capital gains tax they have to pay.”
Ben Wilkes in Staffordshire said: Independent was still awaiting a response from HS2 on a canceled section of the road that was to pass through part of the charity’s four-and-a-half acres of land.
Trustees of the Border Collie Trust, which said HS2 had offered to buy the trust’s land for £800,000, said: “At a time when the government says it is under constant pressure, such as the demands of the NHS, it is extraordinary to see such spend on these properties. It’s as if HS2 has been given a blank cheque.”
One of the reasons behind the plan to switch the northern leg of HS2 to Manchester is to connect HS2 to Northern Powerhouse Rail. [NPR]The government is expected to announce this in the new year.
Henri Murison, NPR’s managing director, said: Independent It has been stated that houses purchased along the cut sections of the HS2 line, including the section from Manchester airport to Manchester Piccadilly, may still be needed for future rail plans.
He said the stabling facility planned for HS2 trains in Scotland, which was part of the canceled phase 2 of the project, could also still be used.
He said: “There are various parts of HS2, whether for the NPR or a potential railway from Manchester to Birmingham, that may never be built by HS2 Ltd but which the government may still want to build new rail lines.
“The worst thing in the world to do, never mind how traumatic it would be for people to buy their homes when there is a risk of a new railway, would be to sell the land back to either the original landowners or other people and come back a few years later and do the same thing again.”
HS2 maintained that it was following government guidance when purchasing properties, which said commitments to acquire properties must be met before cancellations.
A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “In the interest of fairness and in line with our legal obligations, we have made clear that phase 2 property transactions initiated before the cancellation of this part of HS2 will be honored. These acquisitions will inevitably take time to complete.”
“This activity is part of a wider stream of work to close the phase 2 program in an orderly manner, taking into account the needs of local communities and taxpayers.”
A Department for Transport spokesman said it would be unfair to property owners to cancel sales that were agreed before stage 2 was cancelled.
“We will maximize the money taxpayers receive from properties that are sold and no longer needed,” they said.
