Homeowners declare their idyllic village has been ‘destroyed’ by HS2 works as Ukrainian refugee says the sound is ‘louder than Russian bombs in Kyiv’

Villagers claim their peaceful community has been destroyed by ongoing HS2 works, with a Ukrainian refugee saying the construction is ‘louder than Russian bombs in Kyiv‘. 

Locals in the picturesque Water Orton, in Warwickshire, say heavy machinery is causing their homes to vibrate with a cloud of dirt and dust hovering over their gardens. 

They claim the construction of the 3.5-mile-long tunnel for the high-speed railway, which will connect Birmingham and London, has left a ‘rotten egg’ smell lingering over the village.

Families fed up with the daily misery have moved out of their homes, with the dwindling number of children in the area causing the area’s primary school to reduce its capacity.   

Felicitas Freeman, a 67-year-old retired company director and economist, said her life had been ‘destroyed’ by the HS2 project.

She said: ‘You just cannot prepare yourself for the noise, as it varies in intensity so much.

‘It’s like we are collateral damage in the supposed national interest and life is pretty miserable as a result.

‘I took in a lady from Ukraine called Tanya for a while and she said the noise was worse than the bombs in Kiev.

‘I live in constant dread – sometimes my dog cowers howling under the table. The severity, pitch and longevity of the noise is always changing.

‘When they started with their equipment, I thought I was having a heart attack and my chest felt compressed.

‘I spoke to my neighbour who said he’d had the same sensation too. It causes really deep vibrations and causes the ground to shake.

‘There’s also an awful smell in the air from the soil being dug up for the tunnel. It is constant and they also work at night, so it affects your sleep, which then affects your body and your mind.’

Miss Freeman said she has been on anti-anxiety tablets for the last five years to cope with the vibrations and believes locals should receive compensation.  

She added: ‘I’ve had to pay £7,000 in emergency repairs to fix damage caused to my roof by the vibrations. The tiles were falling off. I asked HS2 to pay half the bill and they refused to pay.

‘HS2 said they would pay if I signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which would bind me for any damages caused by work.

‘It would have stopped me talking to my neighbours about it. I refused.’

Father-of-three Edward Franklin, 60, an engineer, lives with his wife Linda, 57, at a property believed to be the nearest private house in the village to the train line on Attleboro Lane.

He said: ‘We have lived here for 29 years, our three children grew up here, and we remember the fields all around.

‘The vibrations from the work cause our house to shake and has led to cracks appearing in our plaster, floor tiles, wall tiles and our ceilings.

‘There are eleven properties on the street that have all reported the same. We can’t sit in our garden because of the dust either.

‘We had a builder assess outside the damage and said it was around £7,000 roughly to repair. We held off on decorating because of the works by HS2 and they still haven’t sent a loss adjuster round.

‘But it is hard to fight what seems to be a faceless organisation.

‘Lots of people have been moving out of the village, the school has had to adjust their class sizes as so many people have left because of HS2.

‘The only people we can sell our home to is HS2, but the only offer we had wasn’t very good.’

Another local resident, grandmmother-of-one Joyce Parkinson, 63, added: ‘This was a stunning village before HS2.

‘But now we’re surrounded by a building site. Our beautiful countryside has been carved up. So many people are moving away and I fear it’s going to become a ghost town.’

The Reform administration at Warwickshire County Council last week called on HS2 to introduce a package of compensation for communities affected by daily disruption.

The authority said residents in Water Orton and neighbouring Coleshill had ‘shown more patience than any community should ever be asked to’, with dust, a fishy smell and the ‘constant roar of HGVs’.

Councillor Jennifer Warren, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Planning, said: ‘When our residents look out of the window they see a monster growing out of the ground, triumph of civil engineering.’

‘For years the people of Water Orton and Coleshill have watched as this concrete giant consumed our ancient woodlands, disrupted our heritage and now stands over our homes.

‘This monster isn’t just made of concrete, it’s fed by the constant roar of HGVs, the vibration of heavy machinery and the relentless disruption to our road network.’

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: ‘We take our responsibilities to local communities very seriously and our CEO, Mark Wild, met with local councillors recently to hear their concerns.

‘We try to minimise the impacts of construction wherever possible and have built a haul road to take construction traffic off local roads and ensure heavy goods vehicles doesn’t travel through Water Orton village or pass people’s homes.

‘We’ve also listened carefully to local residents and introduced a range of measures based on their feedback.

‘Additional noise mitigation, road sweeping, window cleaning, and access to car washing facilities are just some of the measures now in place, and we encourage the residents to keep talking to us so we can act on their concerns.’