- Landlink (Stoke Mandeville) Ltd has been awarded £10.6m in compensation after a strip of land in Buckinghamshire was seized by the Department for Transport for an HS2 relief road.
- The Upper Tribunal heard that the 2.7-acre acquisition bisected an eight-acre site, fatally undermining plans to build a large retirement village complex.
- Tribunal experts concluded that the site's value plummeted from £10.15m to £190,000 because the remaining parcels of land were too small to support a viable scheme.
- The ruling comes as total expenditure on land and property for HS2 reached £3.1bn by 2024, amid estimates that the overall project cost could rise to £103bn.
- The Taxpayers' Alliance condemned the award as another example of spiralling costs, while the Department for Transport noted the land was acquired under the previous government.
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