Welsh Secretary Sells Home Near HS2

There has been a lot of controversy regarding the High Speed 2 (HS2) route. However, it seems that this drama has recently reached a head when Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan was criticized for selling her home. This was a big deal because her home was very close to the planned HS2 route. Reports went on to show that the sale of the house went through just two months before the UK government officially approved this project.

Media sources went on to claim that Mrs. Gillan sold her Seventieth Century house that was located in Amersha, Buckinghamshire. Apparently, the house sold for just £320,000. This is bad news, because it means that the house actually sold 20 percent under its original price. Overall, this means that she was just ready to get out of there.

A spokesman for Mrs. Gillan said that her house had been on the market since back in June of 2010. He also confirmed that it did sell at under the original price. However, he did note that Mrs. Gillan and her husband had their own reasons for wanting to move.

Either way, people are accusing Mrs. Gillan of wanting to move since this HS2 route was going to be just 500 yards from her house. It is apparent that she does not want to live next to this London to Birmingham route, so she picked up and left. Critics say that it’s easy for her to do so, but not so easy for struggling families who also do not want to live next to this route, which was approved last week by Transport Secretary Justine Greening.

As some may remember, Mrs. Gillan had once threatened to resign over the HS2. This was because people were saying that the HS2 would “blight” the area. Now, however, she has just chosen to get out of the way of the rails. She has noted that good progress has been made in mitigating the impact of the new line tunnels. Whether or not the impact has been reduced, it apparently has not been reduced enough for her to want to stay in the area. However, the spokesman for Mrs. Gillan said that it is not like that. In fact, he said that her leaving has nothing to do with the rail at all. It just so happened that the selling of the house happened around the same time.

Apparently, the spokesman said that the selling of her house has to do with her mobility problems. She has had trouble getting around ever since her 2006 illness. Not only that, but her 84-year-old husband is not able to use the stairs in their current house. Thus, it does not seem like it is worth it to keep.