ELDERLY residents, who have lived in Victorian cottages at Acton for 70 years, took to the streets last week asking the Government for compensation for the 10 years of disruption they will be caused by HS2.

A Select Committee of MPs visited North Acton tube station on Wednesday morning to see the potential damage that tunnelling and work on a proposed interchange station at Old Oak Common might cause.

Many residents have lived in the street for 25-70 years, and around 10 of the homes are occupied by children of the original tenants.

Richard Davis, who has lived on Wells House Road for 70 years, having worked on the railway for most of his adult life, said 220 cottages, built for the railway workers in the 1880s, would be affected.

"I am disgusted at the lack of compensation offered to Wells House Road residents,” he said.

“The construction of HS2 is going to disrupt our lives for ten years and we're stuck in the middle of it.

“We're going to have to travel for an extra hour to get to the shops, the dentists, the doctors, rather than 15 minutes down the road."

"I'm also concerned about the effect of the construction on our health, as I suffer from asthma and my wife Joyce with a lung condition.

"We can't afford to move, so it's out of the question. Prices are sky-high around here and the lack of compensation is only going to make matters worse."

Mark Walker, of The Island Triangle Residents Association, said: “The island is in a different position to other residential areas of North Acton.

“It is a conservation area, and films, music videos and advertisements are regularly filmed in its pretty and well-kept streets.

“But, because our community is right next to the Willesden rail yard, it will bear the brunt of HS2’s construction and tunnel waste transfer operations for a decade or more.”

The Select Committee visit, the first to an urban area, comprised MPs Robert Syms, Henry Bellingham, Peter Bottomley, Ian Mearns and Mike Thornton, and was arranged to assess compensation for residents.

Ian Mearns, Labour MP for Gateshead, particularly empathised and said that, so far, the focus had been on rural areas, with the extreme impact on communities, such as Wells House Road, not being acknowledged.

Compensation is currently not agreed for three Old Oak residents groups, despite them facing some of the greatest disruption of anyone affected by the HS2 route.

Amanda Souter of Wells House Road Housing Association, said: “Currently, there is no compensation beyond the inadequate ‘need to sell’ scheme for residents in Wells House Road or any other communities in urban areas.

“And there is no budget for mitigating against the impact of the noise, air and light pollution and disruption this massive development will bring.”

Following the visit, Tom Hinds, of HS2, has agreed to meet with residents ahead of the forthcoming Select Committee hearing to respond to their 14 pages of unanswered questions.