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After years of traffic, dust and noise, villagers in Water Orton in Warwickshire are facing a new issue from the building of HS2. Alex Ross went to find out
Sunday 23 November 2025 09:41 GMTComments
CloseResident complains of smell from HS2
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Fourteen years ago, a band of experts – engineers, property specialists and environmentalists – rolled into a Warwickshire village to present a plan for a new high-speed line from London to Manchester and Leeds, with the promise of regional economic growth and jobs.
The “once-in-a-lifetime” HS2 project would see trains travel at speeds of up to 250mph, linking the capital with cities across northern England and finally breaking an historic north-south divide.
But instead, the residents of Water Orton, where a spur of the line to Birmingham curves around the southern edge of village, claim their once-peaceful community has only been plagued with dust, noise and traffic from construction.
Now, the villagers say they are facing another problem; a pungent stench, coming from the opening of a 3.5-mile twin-bore tunnel from Birmingham. It’s said to be so strong that some people in the 3,500-population community decide to stay inside.
open image in galleryFeli Freeman says the smell from HS2 is obnoxious, and is one of a number of issues she faces, living close to the works (Independent)“It stinks to the high heavens,” says retired economist Feli Freeman, who lives in a 1930s-built four-bedroom home on Attleboro Lane, within eyesight of the huge cranes and concrete works associated with the HS2 line.
She added: “It is an obnoxious smell, it is nauseating, it is limiting in terms of going out for walks. I don’t want to take my dog for a walk.”
The 66-year-old claims the building of the line has disrupted her life with noise at night, increased traffic and vibrations.
Two years ago, she was offered £3,500 by HS2 for damage to her roof, but refused it when it came with a non-disclosure agreement, also known as a “gagging order”. HS2 said the agreement was added by mistake, and the offer still stands without it.
Almost every person The Independent spoke to said they notice the smell, which has been described as “fishy” and “like rotten eggs”.
The smell follows outcry over mismanagement and overspending at the crisis-hit project, and has been picked up by the North Warwickshire and Bedfordshire MP, Rachel Taylor, who has put it to senior directors at the Environment Agency.
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open image in galleryThe village of Water Orton sits next to a spur of the HS2 from Birmingham to the north, where a tunnel from Birmingham opens ends (The Independent)Agency officers have assessed the smell, but said the investigation was being led by North Warwickshire Borough Council, which told The Independent the odour came from the mixing of material evacuated at the tunnel, called Bromford Tunnel, and quicklime pellets, as part of a “stabilisation process”.
“The stockpiles continue to emit odour, following a rise in complaints during September and October, the council has advised [contractor] Balfour Beatty Vinci that the existing odour-control measures are inadequate,” said a council spokesperson, who added that HS2 was looking at further ways to tackle the issue.
HS2 said the smell was not hazardous, and that the lime stablisation process was a common technique to allow the reuse of the materials elsewhere on the project, which reduced cost and avoided extra lorries on the roads.
However, a spokesperson said work was taking place to reduce the odour, including putting a layer of soil over the material. They said: “Excavation of the Bromford tunnels was completed last month and we're now looking at options that may help to reduce or eliminate the smell from a material stockpile.”
Ms Taylor wants greater urgency on the issue, after being told the smell would be gone by March next year. “Having experienced it myself recently, I know how unpleasant it is,” she said. “I have been clear to HS2 that residents should not be expected to suffer this.”
open image in galleryWater Orton has sections of the HS2 line on three sides of the village, sitting on a spur of the line (HS2)The village, which was originally called Overton, sits just outside the urban sprawl of Birmingham and on the northern edge of the triangular spur of the HS2 line, known as Delta Junction.
The spur will take trains from Curzon Street Station in Birmingham to Handsacre in Staffordshire, where they will connect to the West Coast Main Line to Manchester after a northern leg of the high speed line was scrapped two years ago.
Despite initial public uncertainty due to the northern leg cancellation, followed by transport minister Heidi Alexander’s criticism of the project earlier this year, work is progressing on completing the line to Birmingham.
In Water Orton, the outskirts of the village are hive of activity with dozens of construction staff working on the junction, where giant concrete pillars up to 20 metres high have been raised for viaducts to carry the high speed line.
Outside the new home of Old Saltleians Rugby Club, which was relocated and paid for by HS2, there is a huge pile of earth from the works, known as Ayres Rock, after the Australian attraction, by locals. Inside the club, almost 100 people, mostly pensioners, attend a weekly “warm hub” where there is coffee, cakes and exercises.
“There’s a smell of rotten dead,” says Steve Wahelam, a 74-year-old retired electronics engineer. “It’s like someone has dug up a church cemetery, everyone is suffering from it. It’s just another thing the village has to deal with.”
open image in galleryHow the two viaducts will look like, heading toward Water Orton from the M42 (HS2)Carol Hatch, 79, a retired teaching assistant, says: “You open the back door and you think ‘not again’ when you smell it, it smells of fish. I shut the windows, and you wouldn’t want to sit outside with it.”
The smell is the latest of a catalogue of issues for the residents. They complain over potholes, they say caused by construction traffic, layers of dust on their homes and cars and a loss of green space.
“This was a proper, beautiful village before HS2,” says Graham Jones, 85. “Now, we’re surrounded by construction. Our trees and green space are gone, our roads filled with potholes and now this smell.”
He adds: “It’s made my wife miserable, she wanted to leave, but I can’t go, this is my village, it’s a part of my life, I can’t leave even if it is ruined.”
But some families have moved away.
This month, a proposal was announced to reduce the intake of the village primary school, which was moved a stone’s throw from its 141-year-old home to a new site for work on the HS2 line.
open image in galleryGraham Jones, who was at a weekly event at the rugby club, says the construction of HS2 has ruined the village (The Independent)A Warwickshire County Council report advocating the change said “the works [HS2] have had a significant impact on the village and the school has seen many families move away”.
Parent Kim Turrell, 41, who has two children at the school, says: “I know friends of my children whose parents have decided to move away because of HS2, it’s sad, really, but it’s not surprising given the disruption.”
However, Carl Smith, 66, a retired IT worker, who has lived in the village for 37 years, said the community was still desirable to move in to. “It’s an affluent area and people are willing to stick it out,” he says.
A HS2 spokesperson said it was “working hard” to reduce traffic disruption during the construction of the railway. They added: “We have agreements in place with local authorities to fund road repairs and a series of access routes have been specially built to carry construction traffic directly off nearby motorways onto our work sites - avoiding local roads."
open image in galleryThe old school building of Water Orton Primary School, now boarded up after it was relocated due to HS2 (The Independent)A Warwickshire County Council spokesperson said: “Governors and staff [at Water Orton Primary School] are committed to providing the best possible education and development opportunities for those in their care during this process and beyond. Any proposal to adjust pupil admission numbers will be subject to a full consultation process to gather local views and explore all options.”
At the village garden centre coffee shop, where a cooked breakfast costs £8 and a coffee £3, independent councillor Steven Stuart says the community spirit had been hit by ongoing issues with building of the HS2 line.
He wants the company to commit more money to youth projects in the village, and is unhappy an extension to the original plans for the tunnel to reach Water Orton was allowed without a new planning application.
HS2 has provided funding for sport facilities, including the village’s tennis, football and cricket clubs.
“The village of Water Orton no longer exists in the form that it once did” he says. “It would be lovely if HS2 could acknowledge that, and then help us become stronger going forward - but time will tell.”
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