A man who was forced to sell his home to make way for the HS2 high-speed rail link has said the failed project “destroyed his life”.
Roly Bardsley was devastated when he received a letter informing him that his home in Stanthorne, Cheshire, was affected by the planned route.
After being denied a compulsory purchase order, the 59-year-old said he had “lost everything”.
“I tried to sell it and estate agents laughed at me. It was blighted forever,” he told the BBC.
Rishi Sunak has announced that the plans for HS2 has been scrapped due to costs.
HS2 was a proposed high-speed rail link between London and the north of England. The Prime Minister told a conference that £36billion allocated to it would be reinvested into other northern rail and road schemes.
Mr Bardsley said the route would have come within 40 yards (37m) of his house and that an additional bypass would have left the place on “an island with no means of access”.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “They refused to compulsorily purchase it because it didn’t knock the house down. I would have had trains travelling at 240 miles an hour every twelve minutes, 40 yards from my window.”
While this was going on, Mr Bardsley’s business got into financial difficulty meaning he was forced to sell his property.
