Kenilworth is a cosy market town in the Midlands but its beautiful surrounding countryside is being slowly but surely destroyed by transport developments – and residents are not happy.
The town in Warwickshire has recently undergone a period of growth, including changes made by the HS2 railway construction which has completely destroyed some of Kenilworth’s greenery.
Residents told Express.co.uk they are frustrated with the HS2 developments as construction work has been ongoing for years but little progress appears to have been made.
Peter Simmons, a resident of Kenilworth, said: “It’s just total destruction. Since they announced that they weren’t going to go any further than Birmingham, it seems to be that there’s a distinct lack of movement in terms of construction. The impetus to get the thing done seems to have disappeared in this area.”
His wife, Pauline Simmons added: “For people around here, we would have to go to Birmingham to get to London via the HS2 – it just seems totally ludicrous to us when it’s going past the end of the town. It’s just absolutely ridiculous. We don’t agree with it. Driving around here since the destruction, it’s shocking – really really shocking.”
The future of the HS2 in Kenilworth remains uncertain as construction makes slow progress. Residents have been angered by the destruction of the area for seemingly very little benefit to residents of the town.
The HS2 development has drastically changed the town and is a huge-scale operation locally, even though it won’t actually serve the town.
Ms Simmons said residents had noted the radical change to the greenery around Kenilworth.
She said: “It’s just been totally annihilated all around here – Leamington, obviously Birmingham, Balsall Common, all the way round. It’s totally changed the whole landscape.”
Questions have been raised over what will happen in the future as there are many patches of land that have been affected by the development on either side of the new train lines.
Some believe the land may be sold to developers meaning even more construction will take place in the area and more countryside may be destroyed as the entire area becomes more built up.
The couple explained what it was like at the height of construction in the area, Peter continued: “At one time, it was so busy. There were trucks coming through here.
“They always said there’s going to be so many tipper trucks coming through. You don’t even see them now. The thing is, we don’t need the HS2, we can go to Warwick to get to London, we can go to Coventry to get to London and be there in less than an hour.”
A spokesperson for HS2 said: “HS2 is at peak construction, with work around Kenilworth and the surrounding areas well underway.
“We take our responsibilities to local communities very seriously and try to minimise the effects of our construction work wherever possible. For example, we’ve built a series of haul roads which link our construction sites locally – meaning the majority of HS2 construction traffic doesn’t travel on local roads.
“We encourage members of the community to talk to us so we can act on any concerns or queries they may have.”