High speed rail compensation scheme unveiled
Jul 27 2010 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post
Business owners facing ruin because of plans to build a new 250mph rail line into Birmingham will be invited to apply for compensation from August 20, Ministers have announced.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond announced the government’s scheme to compensate homeowners affected by high speed rail plans will be extended to include commercial properties.
The decision comes after it was revealed that owners of small and medium sized firms face eviction under the plans, which involve demolishing a dozen businesses premises in Bromford and Castle Bromwich to make way for tracks.
An “exceptional hardship scheme” will allow property owners who are struggling to sell their homes because of the rail proposals to sell them to the government instead.
It follows the publication in March of a detailed map showing the exact route a new high speed rail line from London to Birmingham is likely to take.
Birmingham City Council and local business leaders welcomed the announcement, but it caused anger in parts of Warwickshire and Staffordshire where residents claimed trains would damage their quality of life.
The route, which includes a new station at Curzon Street in Birmingham city centre, will not be confirmed until a formal consultation starting next year has been completed.
But the Government’s hardship scheme is designed to compensate people who are already suffering because they need to sell their property and are unable to do so.
It is open to people whose property has been on the market for at least three months but have only received offers worth 85 per cent of its real market value, or less.
If their application is successful, the Government will buy their property at its full price.
Mr Hammond said the scheme “should be limited to those who have a pressing need to sell and who would otherwise experience exceptional hardship.”
In a statement to the Commons, he said: “This Government is committed to the establishment of a high speed rail network as part of its programme of measures to create a low carbon economy.”
