DOZENS of residents fighting HS2 met with the TaxPayers’ Alliance to ramp up opposition to the proposed high speed railway.

Campaigners congregated in Lostock Green on Wednesday, August 23, to raise their concerns with national group – which sees the controversial scheme as poor value for money for the taxpayer.

Ros Todhunter, a member of Mid Cheshire Against HS2 from Lostock Green, told the Guardian that the day gave residents the chance to explain the geological damage which HS2 could cause in Cheshire.

“We’ve been in contact with the TaxPayers’ Alliance and they wanted to see what was going to happen in Cheshire,” she said.

“The day gave us a chance to come together as a community and an awful lot of us turned up.

“It’s the same story I have been explaining for the last three years – the Government is not aware of the impact of going over salt mines and the gas storage in Cheshire.

“The safety and the expense of HS2 in our area is a real concern for us.”

Members of the TaxPayers’ Alliance who visited Lostock Green also saw homes and infrastructure that will have to be removed before HS2 arrives.

James Price, from the Tax Payers’ Alliance, said: “These residents will be unable to board HS2, will be forced to pay for it in taxes, and are seeing their community irrevocably damaged by its presence. That's why they are fighting.

“There now follows two years where the bill for the next phase of HS2 will be debated and pushed through Parliament. In that time, we will hear horror stories emanating from phase one.

“When the evidence of disruptions, setbacks and waste comes out of this first leg, we will have even more ammunition with which fight the second phase.”