TWO Middlewich residents who live close to the proposed HS2 route have had their home bought by the scheme after their MP, Antoinette Sandbach, stepped in to help.

Under the Exceptional Hardship Compensation Scheme, HS2 can buy properties where owners who have an urgent medical or financial need to sell are unable to do so because of their home’s proximity to the proposed route.

The residents struggled to sell their home and were initially rejected for compensation despite being affected by debt and illness, at which point Eddisbury MP Antoinette offered to help.

She said: Antoinette commented “I was very upset to hear that two of my constituents who were having real problems selling their home and who had valid financial and health reasons for needing to move had had their application for compensation refused by HS2.

I stepped in to help them by writing to the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, about their case and asking HS2 to urgently review the case.

I’m delighted for my constituents that HS2 has now offered to buy their house and to end over a year of uncertainty and worry”.

Antoinette argues that HS2 must treat people fairly and simplify the compensation process, and added that any other constituents encountering problems are welcome to contact her.

The proposed route of HS2 would cut between Middlewich and Winsford on its way from Birmingham to Manchester and Liverpool.