High Speed Rail consultation group visits Ladbroke

Ladbroke Action Group will protest in Bell Inn car park during the roadshow

The first of four roadshows about the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail plan is taking place in Warwickshire.

The Department for Transport plans to provide high-speed rail links from London to Birmingham in phase one with connections to Manchester in phase two.

A roadshow is visiting sites along the proposed route and is in Banbury Road, Ladbroke, from 0800 until 2000 BST.

It will be in Southam on 3 and 4 June and it will visit Cubbington on 6 June and Kenilworth on 13 and 14 June.

Phase one of the HS2 public consultation ends in July and it is expected a decision will be made by the government by the end of the year.

Residents will have the chance to speak to engineers, environmentalists and property specialists from HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport at the roadshows.

Revised route

People can also listen to noise demonstrations, independently verified by experts, to replicate the noise level of the HS2 in operation.

The proposed route through Warwickshire was changed in September to move it further away from Ladbroke and Stoneleigh and into a covered tunnel in Burton Green, which would have less of a visual impact on the environment.

Some residents in Warwickshire welcomed the news but said they still wanted the scheme to be dropped. HS2 Ltd said the link was needed to help relieve overcrowding on trains and would cut journey times between London and Birmingham by up to 30 minutes.

Protest groups have been set up by anti HS2 campaigners in Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Buckinghamshire.