Our village is split by monstrous HS2 tunnel – we’ve had years of constant closures… we can’t wait to sell our homes

VILLAGERS say their tranquil lives have turned into a nightmare after years of disruption due to HS2 cutting the area in half.

used to be one of the nicest rural places to live – but the monstrous 700 metre tunnel has left residents desperate to sell.

The construction has seen homes demolished, ancient woodland destroyed and residents moved out.

The locals still there say they have to wash their cars every week because they’re covered in dust, and their houses randomly start shaking from the ongoing works.

Now, the is set to disrupt the village’s VE Day celebrations with yet another road closure planned for next week.

Sue Spence, 75, a gemologist who has lived in the village for over 40 years, said: “I have lost count of the number of times the road has been closed.

“It’s always the last one, until the next one, but the timing of this one is unfortunate.

“It will mean that people living on the wrong side of the tunnel will have a four-mile round trip to a village hall which is less than half-a-mile away.

“We are planning a big VE Day celebration to mark the 80 years, and the lighting of a beacon. It will make life difficult for our older residents.”;

Most disrupted place on the route

HS2 has been dominating life in Burton Green since it was announced back in 2010 with the village said to be the most disrupted place on the route.

Sue added: “I remember going to a meeting about it 13 years ago. Everyone was opposed and yet every MP of every shade was in favour.

“They thought it was such a sexy project but the disruption has been mammoth and for what?

“My husband and I use the trains. We know we need more capacity but we don’t need to get places quicker.

“The destruction of the countryside has been appalling. I saw their machines at work and they were literally lifting out these old oak trees, roots and all.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The lanes are now bleak. When you think of the expense and the waste, you could weep. Think of all the things we could have had with that money – things we actually need like hospitals and prisons.”;

Sue is taking part in a weekly indoor bowls group at the village hall, which was built by HS2.

“We had a village hall built by us,”; she said, “but that had to go and HS2 built this one to replace it. It’s well used, they said yes to everything we wanted and the car park is better.”;

Among her playing companions is Frank Spencer, 96, a World War II veteran, whose first posting was to Palestine at the end of the war.

“I did 30 years of soldiering with the Paras all over the world,”; he said.

“I’ll be at the VE celebrations of course whether the road is closed or not.”;

As for his verdict on HS2: he said.

His playing companion Anita Smith, 91, echoed his thoughts.

“I’ve been in the village all my life and this disruption has been terrible,”; she said. “It’s an absolute waste of money.”;

The tunnel works are now such a feature of life that people struggle to remember when it all started and no-one knows when it’s going to finish.

I’ve been in the village all my life and this disruption has been terrible. It’s an absolute waste of money.

Frank Spencervillage resident

They remember the public meetings about it over a decade ago when MPs told them what a great idea it was.

They are sure the works started before Covid, but as for when trains will race through the tunnel, estimates vary from two to 10 years.

Scientist Andrew Gibbs, whose beautiful, detached house is within 100 metres of the works, said: “‘Back at the very start when it was announced, I could see benefits in terms of connectivity.

“Back then, they were talking about it going through Heathrow and connecting up Manchester and Leeds and the northern powerhouse.

“As someone who travels abroad for work, I could see some sense in that because instead of flying from Birmingham to Frankfurt and then on, I could take the train to Heathrow.

“But that was dropped because it added five minutes to the journey time to London and now all the other useful bits have been binned too.

“It’s bad enough having a decade or more of disruption but the end result is now so underwhelming.”;

Like other residents, Andrew regularly finds himself blocked in by traffic waiting at the traffic lights for the temporary bridge over the tunnel works.

And now his front garden has been turned into a bog due to a leak from a Severn Trent pipe.

“It’s clay soil so in dry weather it’s rock hard and if we had guests I could park my car on it,”; he said. “Now it’s under water all the time.

“We have had so many road closures and while HS2 will inform us, they always play it down, they say it’ll be the last one, they say it won’t last too long and then the workers tell us they were either ignorant or lying.

“We hope we are over the worst now in terms of noise and there is talk of the road being back to normal by the end of 2026.”;

is well illustrated by civil servant Dr Mark Wareing, 67, who lives less than 100 metres from the tunnel and works in

“If I time everything right, I can leave the office in Piccadilly and be back home within 90 minutes,”; he said.

“I get an underground to Euston, an hour’s train to Coventry and then a 10 minute train to Tile Hill station down the road. HS2 can’t improve that.

“When you also factor in that working habits have changed and there is so much more working from home, God knows why they are still ploughing money into it.”;

Homes up for sale

His four-bedroom house with woodland to the rear is currently on the market for £700,000 and he is hoping that it will sell despite the current disruption.

“We have had plenty of interest,”; he said. “When the works are complete it will be a great place to live,”; he said.

“We have got through the worst of it. The power-driving was terrible and the roads needed repairing because of the amount of extra lorries.”;

He is given extra hope by a new-build development less than half-a-mile away which £600,000 homes have been snapped up off the plans.

Two doors away Jean Priest, 57, is also hoping to sell. “We’ve had it on the market since September with no joy at all,”; she said.

“The problem we have at the moment is getting back into our drive with all the cars waiting at the temporary lights.”;

One option for those who live close enough to the works is to sell to HS2. They pay the market rate but sellers hope to complete on the open market and then pocket an extra 10 per cent of the sale price from HS2 by way of compensation. Many home owners have sold already.

Pip, 35, who rents her home from HS2, said: “I find it fascinating in some ways because it’s not every day you get a big government project outside your house. My partner is always out looking at it.”;

But she admitted: “You can be sitting watching television and then all of a sudden the house will start to shake.

“I have heard it will be going on for another 10 years. Sometimes it gets a bit much when you want to sit out in the garden at the weekend or have a nice lunch outside – it’s drill, drill, bang.

“We have to wash the cars every week because they are constantly covered by brown dust.”;

Another person renting from HS2 is car worker Craig Krom and his partner Samantha.

He said: “I sympathise with those who have been here a long time because this is a great community.

“It’s the sort of place where people pick up litter to keep it looking good.

“The biggest impact is the road works. We get temporary roadworks to repair the roads right next to the temporary lights on the bridge and cars back right up.”;

Another resident, lawyer Katrina Stonard added: “We knew what we were getting into when we moved here and when they were doing the digging it was very noisy.

“Once it is done, it will be fine. We have seen the drawings and when it is complete it will look lovely. I think it will be another four years.”;