Fury as NEW housing estate faces being flattened to make way for HS2 railway
'Some or all' of the estate could be levelled despite the fact building work hasn't even finished
FUMING residents have blasted HS2's latest high-speed rail plans - which could mean their partially-built housing estate is bulldozed to make way for a new route.
"Some or all" of the Shimmer estate in Mexborough could be levelled under the proposal, despite the fact building work on the development hasn't even finished yet.
Annie Webster, who lives on the estate, said the "bottom has fallen out of our world".
Housing developer Strata are still "digesting the information" and are assessing the impact it will have on people's lives.
HS2 announced a proposed line to run through South Yorkshire with a stop in Sheffield city centre.
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The fresh proposal is for a route to run east towards the M18, and will connect with HS2's original route south of the M62.
High-speed trains will use tracks already in place to access Sheffield, and will stop at the city's Midland station.
Strata's chief executive Andrew Weaver said: "Late yesterday afternoon the Strata team met with advisors from the Department of Transport and representatives for High Speed 2."
He added: "During this meeting we were informed that properties within our Shimmer development, which is based in Mexborough, will be affected by the proposed changes to the HS2 route should this updated plan be improved.
"We are working closes with representatives to our understand proposals so that we can be clear on what this may mean for our existing and future home owners, (and) we will be doing all that we can to support them during this time."
David Higgins of HS2 Ltd, said it is important residents were given "certainty as soon as possible".
He added: "If we can lift the blight from those communities then the quicker the better.
"It's always the same with any change; some people who were impacted are no longer impacted while those previously not affected will be.
"There are less people impacted by this route, in terms of houses affected, but that's no consolation for those people."
The proposed route would see up to two trains per hour leave HS2 line near to Clay Cross, in Derbyshire, and join the the existing line into Sheffield.
It would then rejoin HS2 east of Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire.