But after years of HS2 compulsory home and land purchases, groundwork and eco-protests, the exhausted community of 4,000 residents has been left scarred by the spectre of high-speed rail.
Geography and geology was never on HS2âs side on the 10km stretch through Madeley and neighbouring Whitmore near Newcastle-under-Lyme, as it had to negotiate a local coalfield with voids âthe size of cathedralsâ, a bog âas deep as a marinaâ and travel through a hillside via a new tunnel.
Now PM Rishi Sunak has axed the phase 2 Birmingham to Manchester route, the Daily Express visited Madeley and Whitmore to see how itâs created a blot on the landscape.
Meeting campaigning mother-of-two Deborah Mallender(corr) at Whitmoreâs family-run and tranquil Tea Rooms, you are reminded of our nationâs delight in tradition and the relaxing natural peace of the countryside.
But as the retired university researcher took us on a tour of the two villages, we glimpsed how HS2 has not just divided opinion and neighbours, but carved a concrete wedge through our green and pleasant land.
And from those affected by years of sleepless nights, ecological upset and financial uncertainty two demands ring out louder than any – âis it really over?â and âthis can only end with a public inquiryâ.
An estimated ÂŁ400m has already been spent on buying land, ancient forests and hundreds of homes between Birmingham and Manchester.
Now married Deborah, from Madeley, showed us how some of thatâs been spent and wasted with million pound mansions left empty, and some abandoned homes recently boasting cannabis farms and squatters.
Furious Deborah, 63, explained: âThis is a stockbroker belt with a happy blend of local families who can trace their families here for generations and new residents with kids or who have retired here after a hard, successful life.
âBut looking at these hamlets of empty homes, now owned by HS2 is so depressing and sad. These homes were once loved and cared for and aspired after – now they are run down shells of houses.
âThe only sign of life near them are the HS2 private security contractors that swing by each one a few times a day to check they havenât been broken into.
âNow it looks like they neednât have been sold at all. Imagine how their former owners must feel at that news? Why has this happened?â
READ MORE: HS2 was ALL about being good EU citizens, weâve been taken for mugs – Comment
Deborah has spent years researching HS2 and fighting to stop it roaring through Staffordshire and other rural places of beauty and hubs of wildlife.
And the more she studied the proposed route the more she was staggered by the critical, escalating problems that engineers would face.
She said: âFirst we have a bog and their plan was to sit the rail on rafts that sat on top of it. But of course bogs move, so they were going to place sensors on it to alert trains of the rail had moved. Itâs crazy.
âThen they needed to pass through Bar Hill, in Madeley, so they had plans to build a tunnel up to a mile long which would need huge boring machines powered by cables laid through the village high street.
âWe were asking how 4,000 people were going to get to schools, work or medical appointments when the main road out of the village was going to be blocked off by HS2 work for almost a year.
âAlso the geological problems at Madeley were huge as itâs a very wet area – combined with being an area that has a coalfield with potentially pockets of gas and voids the size of St Paulâs Cathedral, old mining tunnels and three active rock faults.
âCan you think of any worse or more complicated to tunnel down into? Was this even thought through? No wonder the costs sky-rocketed.â
Work on the tunnel has never started but swathes of Bar Hill were sold by anxious homeowners to HS2 or compulsory purchased.
If the property was in an area marked for HS2 development and met certain criteria, owners could apply for the market value of their property, plus a âhome lossâ payment on top, and expenses.
We spoke to one homeowner who had the option to sell but decided to stick it out – while her three next-door neighbours packed up and left, leaving abandoned homes bordering her attractive detached house.
She told us: âOne old man in his 80s higher up the hill, near where the tunnel would have been, was devastated when he was forced to sell. He told me âIâve lived here all my life. Where will I go now?â
âNow after this weekâs announcement it looks like he didnât need to have been bought out. Will they sell him his home back? What happens to all these HS2-owned empty houses?â
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Around 35 homes in the exclusive 50 detached house Whitmore Heath sold up to HS2 – after it was revealed trains were to pass through a tunnel underneath their hamlet.
A few are rented out but the rest are empty and prey to squatters and even reportedly a cannabis factory.
Deborah also showed us the nearby Bluebell Woods which last year saw a subterranean protest as eco-warriors hid in underground tunnels before being evicted over a month later by bailiffs.
Now one of the entrances to the fenced-off woods – which HS2 was due to pass near but not through – is guarded by state-of-the-art âArmadilloâ security guard automatons which locals dub âthe Daleksâ after Doctor Whoâs deadly foe.
The machines stood by the gates have sensors, cameras and loudspeakers that spark into life if anyone approaches the locked gate.
In bizarrely a Northern Irish accent, the alerted machine first blares a siren before screaming: âWarning! This is security! Your presence has been detected! The owner and police have been informed!â
Deborah quipped: âWhat a peaceful countryside HS2 has left us!
âThis white elephant has ruined lives. Now we need a public inquiry to find out why it wasnât better planned, researched and what the Treasury and taxpayers were told about the real costs of the whole project.â
Edward Cavenagh-Mainwaringâs family have owned swathes of Staffordshire land for 900 years but the thoughtful 61 year-old farmer was devastated when forced to sell 105 hectares to HS2 for phase 2 line and construction works.
Now thatâs been axed and the land no longer needed, father-of-one Edward would love to bring it back under his stewardship but told the Daily Express the scars of HS2 could take generations to heal.
Edward told us: âI feel numbed by Rishi Sunakâs decision but there is also an anger at all the waste that has occurred, a waste of time, resources and money we have all witnessed with our own eyes.
âThere are no winners with the cancelation of this HS2 phase but the loser is definitely the taxpayer and environment. Lessons must be learned, especially in the way property is compulsory purchased which has felt like a battle.
âNow we are left with the emotional loss of losing the land we sold. I felt that as the custodian of that land I had somehow failed it – even though I was powerless to stop it.
âThere needs now to be proper reflection and a public inquiry into how contracts were awarded and when the dust settles in time, I hope I can secure the land back – to secure it safe for the next generation.â
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Father-of-two Steve Colclough, 65, faced seeing HS2 trains pass the window of his 19th Century cottage in Whitmore 300 metres away raised on stilts had the whole northern Phase 2 project not been canned by the PM this week.
Showing us the breathtaking scenery that was under threat from HS2 Steve – who works in construction – said: âWhen I saw the work further south I was really concerned.
âThe sheer devastation of the landscape and wildlife was alarming. We did not live close enough to the track to be compulsory purchased and decided to stick it out which now Iâm glad we did.
âBut although the news HS2 here is being scrapped I feel sad for those people who lost their farms or beautiful forever homes to this scheme. Iâm also worried that if Labour win the next election Keir Starmer might start it all back up again.
âOnly a public inquiry will reveal how this was all costed up from the start. Itâs a fight we should never have had to take on in the first place. The Covid-19 PPE scandal is kids stealing sweets from Tescoâs compared to the amount of money involved in this.â
At the Madeley Centre, a community hub, HS2 was on the lips of most of the locals as they sipped tea and nibbled on biscuits and cake.
Cllr Jamie Stephenson, the chairman of Madeley Parish Council, met us to explain how 95 per cent of locals have been against the transport project – and instead would have preferred better buses, cross-country rail and more smaller rail stations reopened to serve rural communities.
He said: âFarmers have had their land compulsory purchased, and now itâs all fenced off lying empty or in some cases been turned into meadows or ponds to mitigate the environmental damage to other sites.
âBut this is land that was once filled with herds or planted with crops. These farms were helping feed Britain and in a cost-of-living crisis they are no longer supplying anything.
âSome of the farmers are still waiting to be paid for their land that was taken. So they canât sell all this off yet until they have paid all the original owners.
âAbout 60 homes in total in Madeley and Whitmore were bought up and now lay empty. They could be houses new families and boosting local businesses. These are all viable properties and desirable homes.
âI always thought this was a white elephant now we are left wondering if this is it or if another government will start it back up again in a few years.â
Cllr Stephenson said those who have had their homes purchased by HS2 will be âshocked and appalledâ to hear it has now been cancelled.
He added that the situation has left an âabsolute messâ to sort out and said villagers need to be properly compensated.
He said: âPeople have been turfed out of their homes. That has to be looked at now – how does that redress happen?
How will the area be compensated for the hassle and the issues over the past 10 years?â
HS2 have accepted the project has disrupted home-and-landowners: âWe understand people did not choose to live in the path of a high speed railway, and recognise that every property is unique. At all times we endeavour to be understanding and to provide appropriate support and guidance.â
While in regards to the now unneeded homes and land they have bought up between Birmingham and Manchester, , the Department of Transport directed to this weekâs âNetwork Northâ document on the scrapping of HS2 phase 2, which states: âAny property that is no longer required for HS2 will be sold and a programme is being developed to do this.
âBy next summer changes to the property schemes will be implemented. We will set out further detail on these next steps, and will engage in full with those communities who are affected as we do.â
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