Couple fear HS2 tunnel will be under their home

Jan 23 2012 By Lawrence

Christa and Tom Edgar outside their house on The Brow, Chalfont St Giles. The HS2 tunnel route has been moved to pass under their home.

AN upset Chalfont St Giles resident feels 'cheated' after moving 400 yards away from the original HS2 tunnel route only to find out it will now run under her current home.

Mother-of-two Christa Edgar is one of a number of residents of The Brow calling for answers from the Government on why they were not told the route would change.

The 49 year old used to live on nearby Valentine Way where the tunnel for the £33bn route was originally due to run under but moved to her new home just over a year ago.

Residents were left stunned to discover when new maps were released on January 10 it had shifted to run right underneath their homes.

She said: "I'm not happy, we weren't happy where we lived before either. I'm really concerned about the impact it (the tunnel) will have and the potential damage to the house itself.

"I'm upset about the changes in the route, the one we were looking at was different and now there's this new one - we feel cheated."

The tunnel is set to pass 43 metres below Chalfont St Giles before emerging near Little Missenden.

Neighbour Paul Heseltine, 69, helped arrange a petition to send to the Department of Transport and has written to MP Cheryl Gillan.

He said: "We're shocked and dismayed - we're vehemently against it as there's no business case and it will be extremely harmful to the environment.

"We're pretty sure it's going to mess up house prices, whether we'll feel any vibrations we don't know - we're not sure of the implications, but there will be a lot of construction and the roads aren't up to it."

Michael Obergan, 64, has lived on The Brow for 10 years, he said: "The house's blighted now and it will be for 20 years - I've no plans to sell but if I did, we'd struggle to do so."

DfT spokesperson Ben Clifton said: "We have written to all those whose homes may be affected to make them aware of the decision and explain the next steps.

"Those people will have the opportunity to have their say when we launch a consultation in the spring."