ALMOST 9,000 people will be affected by the route of the HS2 rail line through Warrington according to figures from the company responsible for planning the network.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that 8,982 letters were sent to addresses within one kilometre of the proposed route in Culcheth, Rixton, Glazebury and Lymm.

A further 214 ‘safeguarding’ letters were sent to homeowners who were told their homes or land may be required for the line to be built.

Safeguarding means that land needed for major projects is ‘protected from conflicting developments’.

Residents who receive safeguarding letters must consult HS2 if they apply for planning permission to make certain changes to their properties.

But homeowners are still uncertain about what exactly will happen to their land as the route could go through further revisions before it is passed as a bill through parliament.

Letters received by residents read: “Your property is close to the preferred line of route. Plans will develop over time so we don’t know now exactly how your property will be affected. However, we do know that it is likely to be impacted in some way whilst building or operating the new railway"

A consultation on the route, in which residents from Culcheth, Warrington and Golborne made the most objections, led to the line being changed.

The train had been due to run through the Taylor Business Park in Risley and also within 500 metres of around 500 homes but the route has now been changed.

The tracks will now be a further 300 metres away from Culcheth and will avoid the business park and the Culcheth Linear Park, which members of the Culcheth and District Rail Action Group had campaigned to protect.

But various businesses are still due to be affected by the plans and it is not clear how much compensation they will receive, as HS2 plans to assess them on a case-by-case basis depending on how badly they are hit.

For more information about compensation visit gov.uk/claim-compensation-if-affected-by-hs2.