HS2's £25m Midland property empire

The huge property portfolio has been accumulated by HS2 Ltd, the government-owned company behind the £50billion scheme event though the project is yet to be approved.

So far 22 homes in Staffordshire have been bought for £14.45 million with a further 17 purchases agreed but not completed.

In North Warwickshire 18 homes worth £9.57 million have been sold to the State with another 27 deals set to be approved.

No homes have been bought yet in Birmingham but negotiations are taking place with businesses and commercial property owners.

The homes have been bought under the Exceptional Hardship Scheme, where people have demonstrated a major need to move, and a separate scheme for those who live within 60 metres of the line.

Prices of homes within 500 metres of the route have fallen an average 6.9 per cent in the past 12 months, a study by estate agents Hamptons International, Countrywide, and Lambert Smith Hampton has found. By contrast, average house prices across the country have risen 5.5 per cent in that period.

The most expensive house bought up is Cuttle Mill Fishery next to the Belfry golf course bought for £1,745,000 in January last year. The former mill is converted into five bedroomed property, out-buildings and offices had been advertised on the open market for over £2 million.

The cheapest house the Government acquired was a semi-detached house in Birchmoor in Staffordshire for £104,000.

The Government currently rents out some of the properties, including to some of their former owners.

HS2 is set to carve a 45-mile swathe of Staffordshire countryside with work due to start in 2017 and the first part of the line opening in 2027.

It comes after it was revealed that members of the HS2 Hybrid Bill Select Committee are set to visit Birmingham and Lichfield on July 15 for what will be their first tour of part of the route.

And objectors from Staffordshire and Birmingham will be the first to voice their opposition when the hearings start next month.

The committee, made up of MPs Robert Syms, Henry Bellingham, Sir Peter Bottomley, Ian Mearns, Yasmin Qureshi, and Michael Thornton, will play a key role in proposing changes to the Birmingham to London phase of the route.

The hearings will kick-off on July 1 with briefings about the route and matters such as noise.

On July 15 the committee will travel to Birmingham and Lichfield for site visits before hearing arguments from Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Transport Authority Centro.

In total 1,925 petitions have been received by the House of Commons with campaigners saying it will take at least two years for the select committee to examine the detail alone before Parliament has to vote on the project again.