Camden councillor say HS2 construction has made residents’ lives ‘living hell’

Protest against the HS2 high-speed railway in London
Activists stretch a banner at the spray painted side of Euston station building to protest against the HS2 high-speed railway in London
REUTERS
Leah Sinclair8 June 2021

A London councillor has accused HS2 of not doing enough for people living near the construction site complaining of dust, noise and vibrations in their homes.

Residents of Camden council’s Regents Park Estate, which is located near to building site for the high-speed rail link close to Euston Station, have said their lives have become “hellish” and have urged the rail company to rehouse them at an expected cost of £100 million.

Three of the residential blocks on the estate have been demolished to make room for the HS2 project but three remain, along with some council homes in two nearby streets.

Camden councillor Danny Beales who is leading on the HS2 issue in the borough told the Guardian the company had failed to produce noise insulation for all the households requesting it.

He added that the situation was so bad that some residents on the estate email him at early hours of the morning complaining about noise from the construction work which is stopping them from sleeping and has resulted in residents experiencing shaking walls to vibrating objects.

“The site is a living hell for residents,” he said.

“It isn’t humane to make people live like this. It’s heartless. These blocks are no longer habitable.”

As a result, Mr Beales has called for HS2 to rehouse all the residents who remain on the estate and are affected by the construction work.

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, the councillor added: “Residents in Camden are unable to sleep, children developing asthma & hundreds having to be moved away from their community.

“HS2 has to do more than the bare minimum to support a community under siege from railway works.”

An HS2 spokesperson told the Standard there is “no evidence to support that HS2 activities have resulted in new/worsening asthma cases in the area.”

One resident, who has lived on the estate for 17 years, said the HS2 has “destroyed our lives.”

“I cannot remain in my home, so I leave at 8am every day and go and sit in different coffee shops just to get away,” Fabio Di Lorio told the Guardian.

“HS2 you have destroyed my house, you have destroyed my life and you have destroyed my environment. I cannot eat and I cannot rest. I cannot even watch TV anymore because even on maximum volume I can no longer hear it because of the construction work.”

HS2 has so far rehoused council residents from three demolished blocks, but according to the paper, they have not agreed to do the same for the remaining 175 households.

An HS2 Ltd spokesperson said: “HS2 Ltd is continuing to work through the Euston Partnership with the DfT, MHCLG, Homes England and Camden Council, to identify new ways to further address the disruption experienced by residents at Euston.

“We are working closely with Camden Council colleagues in considering if there is more that can be done for the residents in these blocks.

“In addition to the minimisation of noise, dust and vibration, which is continually monitored and the installation of environmental impact mitigation measures ahead of trigger works, there are two compensation schemes available – the special cases provision and the prolonged disruption compensation scheme.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in