Homeowners' anger over HS2 meeting

Residents living in a small hamlet near Lichfield want bosses to buy up all their homes together to allow them to relocate at the same time.

Their 12 properties in Flats Lane and Knox's Grave Lane, between Weeford and Packington are in the path of the proposed rail route.

But protesters have been told that they will get just five minutes with Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, which they have branded an 'insult'. It comes as they vowed to continue fighting after new legislation was announced by the Queen yesterday.

At the State Opening of Parliament, she revealed that two bills for the high-speed rail scheme would be brought forward by the Government in the next 12 months.

The first gives permission and powers to build the first phase of the line between London and Birmingham. The second is a controversial Preparation Bill for the second phase of the Y-shaped line, which cuts through Staffordshire countryside.

It would allow money to be spent on the project that would not normally be available, to enable spending on the design of HS2 as well as ecological surveys.

It will also allow property compensation to be paid. Both bills need to be passed my MPs to become law. And further legislation will need to be agreed before construction on phase two of the line can take place. Rolfe Pearce, of the Staffordshire Against HS2 Action Group, said between £175m and £225m would be wiped off the value of homes along the route in Staffordshire.

He said: "The most important part of the Queen's Speech is the Preparation Bill, which shows that the money has run out and the Government is now having to borrow more to complete the design.

"It seems to me the Government is really desperate. They are spending huge amounts of cash. It is a complete waste of money."