A nursery owner has told MPs plans to build HS2 through the middle of his land would cost him his home and his business of over 30 years.
David Germain has run Windmill Nurseries in Tabley, near Knutsford, for 32 years - but fears the plans for HS2, as they currently stand, could spell the end for his business. His firm, Windmill Nurseries grows plants to supply direct to customers and also to wholesale and retail businesses - but HS2's phase 2b, the western leg of HS2, is set to involve the compulsory purchase of a big chunk of Mr Germain's land including his home, Windmill House, and the siting of an autotransformer station (ATS) there.
He has therefore launched his petition against the High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester) Bill to try to stop this from happening and flag up his concerns. He presented the petition to a meeting of the High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill Select Committee meeting on Tuesday (June 27), reports Cheshire Live.
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He told the meeting he will have to relocate the business temporarily while construction work on this section of HS2 gets underway but he is considering relocating elsewhere permanently rather than returning to the site once construction is completed so as to ensure continuity with his business.
However, he said if relocation wasn't an option then he would be looking at returning to the site. The meeting also heard Mr Germain would be entitled to compensation for the loss of profits while unable to operate on site during that construction period.
The issue of the location for the autotransformer station (ATS) was discussed at the meeting, with the plans showing that it was to have been built right where Mr Germain's commercial greenhouses are sited.
At the select committee meeting, chaired by Andrew Percy MP, Mr Germain was given reassurances that the ATS could actually be moved to a site located just away from where the greenhouses are. Mr Germain called on the Government to give him a contractual undertaking that the ATS would not be sited where his greenhouses currently lie, rather than just a reassurance.
Tim Mould KC, counsel for the Department of Transport, then agreed that they would provide this.
Mr Germain lives on the six acre site and the rail line would cut straight down the middle of his land and force him to move his commercial greenhouses to enable the civil engineering work required for HS2 to take place.
Mr Germain told the committee: "So the concerns in the petition were the siting of the proposed ATS, what I deem as being excessive mitigation planting - kind of out of character - and the potential extinguishment of Windmill Nurseries.
"Now, we've been offered the assurance of the resiting of the ATS which we are pleased about. Our concerns are, this ATS has already been proposed to be on the other side of the road.
"It's moved a few times and I'm worried further down the line that it may get moved back, you see. It's been on Miley's Lane as well, further away in the parish of Pickmere."
He went on to tell the committee: "So, it's basically my rural business now of over 32 years. It's in danger of being extinguished by the HS2 scheme. I think it's paragraph five of my petition that I would look for it being reinstated either on our own land, in the first instance or on land within the Bill limits."
Mr Germain's son, Mark Armor said they hoped to find a "swift and amicable outcome". He said that while HS2 had told them that reinstatement was not something they would be prepared to do, he wanted to point out that the legislation did suggest otherwise in the compensation code for business relocation information document.
He suggested that land acquired but no longer needed by HS2 could be used for any potential relocation of the business, requesting that a list of such areas of land could be made available to them. Mr Armor said a list had been presented to them just prior to the meeting but the properties concerned were only available on a rental basis until 2035.
Mr Germain would not wish to take any further risk by relocating greenhouses onto land he would only be renting.
Mr Armor added: "Finally, I would like to point out that this has been an extremely stressful and uncertain 10 years on my parents and their livelihoods. They have managed their frustration levels incredibly well.
"Despite the changes in the scheme, there has been no offer of help from HS2 to employ an agent to act on his behalf and all his costs and time has been taken for granted. Assurances given so far have not addressed the main concern within the petition which is reinstatement. These assurances mostly already apply within the express purchase scheme but seem to have additional conditions assigned to them so they don't offer anything that would aid David to reinstate his business.
"So the reason to petition has been to hopefully reach an outcome where the case for reinstatement could be heard impartially. I can confirm that HS2's level of engagement in the past two weeks alone, during the build-up to this hearing, has been more than the whole two years prior, which was only made up of slow responses which were mainly hypotheses.
"It would be a shame if we had to return to the latter environment once this hearing has concluded."
He said it would preferable if his parents were able to continue to trade during the construction phase and relocating might be more efficient to the taxpayer too.
In his closing statement, Mr Germain said: "Whilst I am not against infrastructure, in this case, the HS2 railway line, in principle, the present proposed scheme takes both my home and livelihood off me. We're in the midst of a global climate crisis and our actions will either be enhanced or diluted by the actions of the rest of the world, hopefully the former.
"I welcome any efforts taken by HS2 to negate the negative impacts of the scheme. I must, however, draw attention to the fact, with construction, this is a scheme for at least 50 years.
"Last year the world's population reached eight billion. Fifty years ago it was under four billion. I hope, quoting HS2's own words, recognising the public interest in mitigating the impacts of the proposed scheme on agricultural businesses along the route that they will now work with ourselves to reconfigure both Windmill Nurseries and Windmill House on either our own site or on different land within the Bill limits.
"Now, in layman's terms, from my side, I would bend over backwards to make this work."
Tim Mould KC, counsel for the Department of Transport, responded that it was in the Secretary of State's interest as much as it was in Mr Germain's interest to ensure the continuity of his nurseries business throughout construction of HS2.
He cautioned that there would be a tight timescale at play here and the best way forward would be by way of serving what is known as a Blight Notice for Mr Germain's agricultural land, ensuring it's sold on compulsory purchase order terms.
He would receive assistance from HS2 with finding and relocating to a new permanent site which he could acquire the freehold for. He would also be given full market value for his current site.
Earlier in the course of the select committee meeting, chair Andrew Percy MP asked what impact the construction would have on the business's commercial greenhouses.
In response, Tim Mould KC, counsel for the Department of Transport, said: "They'd have to be removed because we are dealing here with major civil works which are central to the delivery of the railway here.
"This is a major piece of civil engineering work - the Hayrose embankment - and the best I can offer today is that, as you know, the Secretary of State's commitment before the committee is that he will exercise his land acquisition powers so as to take only the land that he requires following detailed design but it is unrealistic to suggest that it would be possible to say with confidence that any signficantly lesser area of land would be required until much later in the delivery of the project.
"So I could not today offer any commitment which would involve any significant reduction in the extent of the building. It's because that would jeopardise the ability of the project to deliver the Hayrose embankment works in a timely and efficient way."
The ATS is now set to be moved to a position to the left of where it was orginally planned to be placed. This would have screening around it.
Tim Mould KC, counsel for the Department of Transport, told the committee he could not say at this time whether the relocating of the ATS would lead to a reduced requirement for land for construction purposes.
He told the select committee: "It has been a longstanding request of Mr Germain that the project should find an alternative location for the ATS so that it is moved away from his land and elsewhere.
"The project has, within the last few days, been able to offer him an assurance that would result in the removal of that auto transformer station, essentially to the south, across Budworth Road onto land adjoining Budworth Road to the south, which is, in any event, within the combined construction boundary and subject to major works."
He added the project had worked up a proposal to enable Budworth Road to remain open, which has been "informally accepted by the local highway authority".
Mr Mould KC added: "In order for that change to be made, the project's current expectation is that it would be necessary, from Mr Germain's perspective regrettably no doubt, but necessary to increase the land take from his property along the northern boundary of Budworth Road because it will be necessary in order to maintain Budworth Road in operation and as a highway.
"It would be necessary to divert it temporarily during the course of works and the diversion that the project thinks would be needed would be to divert it temporarily into Mr Germain's land, so that is something that has not yet been finalised because it is work in progress in relation to the preparation of arrangements for maintaining Budworth Road in operation during and after the works but it is something for which Mr Germain's land is presently at risk."
