Farming families must not be left paying the price of a new generation of rail projects, the NFU has warned, after ministers today unveiled plans for major railway developments across the North and Midlands.
The Department for Transport has announced that initial work will focus on Northern Powerhouse Rail, including a new route between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport and Warrington, alongside improved east–west connections across the Pennines.
In the longer term, the government has set out ambitions for a new north–south line between Birmingham and Manchester to improve capacity and connectivity on the West Coast Main Line.
The NFU said the government must learn lessons from the troubled HS2 scheme, which it says caused years of upheaval for farmers and rural communities caught along its route.
NFU vice-president Rachel Hallos said farming families affected by the proposed lines would already be facing deep uncertainty.
“Farming families along these routes will have lots of questions and plenty of concerns about how the projects will be delivered,” she said.
She pointed to the Birmingham to Manchester section of HS2 as a clear warning of what can go wrong. “Those along the Birmingham to Manchester route have already endured years of disruption because of HS2 flipflopping, delays and insufficient communication, uprooting both their businesses and everyday lives.”
Hallos said many farmers now faced an extended period of uncertainty before any new construction even begins. “Now they will be held in limbo for least another decade, possibly even two, before work on the new line even starts,” she said.
She warned that large-scale infrastructure projects have long-lasting effects that are often underestimated. “These are not developments that take a few months, they are years in the making.”
For farming families, that can mean putting investment, succession planning and even housing decisions on hold, while dealing with land severance, access restrictions and loss of productive ground.
According to the NFU, many families affected by HS2 are still living with the consequences. “This means another generation of families will be hit, many of whose homes, land and livelihoods already bear the scars from HS2,” Hallos said.
She said the experience showed a clear need for a different approach. “Lessons need to be learned from that experience – farming families need to be treated better.”
The NFU said it would seek early engagement with delivery companies to ensure tenant farmers, landowners and multi-generation family farms are properly involved from the outset.
“It’s vital farm businesses are able to be productive and profitable throughout this process and remain focused on what they do best – producing food and caring for the great British countryside,” Hallos said.
While ministers say the plans will boost national infrastructure, the NFU said the real test will be whether farming families are treated fairly from the start — rather than left to deal with the consequences for decades.
