Midland homeowners unable to sell their properties because of the proposed HS2 scheme have already been paid £36 million by the government, new figures reveal.

The huge sum is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of costs as work is not even due to start until 2017, meaning many more households trying to move will be blighted.

The bill so far includes purchasing some of the most expensive properties in the region including one farm at £1.7 million and a former vicarage at £1.35 million.

But it is not just millionaire's row which has been blighted.

At the other end of the scale, £104,000 has been paid to the owner of a semi-detached bungalow in Birch Grove, in Birchmoor, near Tamworth.

The 68 properties in Staffordshire and Warwickshire, which range from small semis to luxury homes, have been bought up by the Government since 2011 under a series of HS2 compensation packages for property owners.

Compensation is currently available to anyone with property within 60 metres of the proposed line - the officially safeguarded area.

The highest sum paid was £1,745,000 for Cuttle Mill Fishery, in Wishaw, on the edge of Sutton Coldfield, which had been, before HS2 route was safeguarded, available on the open market for £2.2 million in 2011.

As well as the fishery business, Cuttle Mill includes a "substantial five-bedroom family residence", large barns and a seasonal café.

Sums of more than £1 million have been paid to the owners of Chadwick House in Hints near Tamworth (£1.325 million), Hunts Green Dairy Farm near Sutton Coldfield (£1.25 million), Ivy Cottage in Huddlesford, Lichfield (£1.15m), The Old Smithy, in Middleton (£1.112 million) and Steelhouse Farm in Cubbington, Warks (£1.175 million).

Property owners from Kenilworth, Coleshill, Lichfield and the many villages in between have also seen pay outs.

Brian and Dorothy Hill of Hunts Green Farm were among the first 20 owners to be paid back in 2011.

The couple had put their home on the market just before the HS2 announcement and their solicitors at Tamworth-based Equine Law were successful in winning compensation arguing they stood no chance of selling the property now.

In total, the Government has paid more than £90 million for 150 homes to clear the way for the high speed rail route between London, Birmingham and the north of England.

At least 700 people are believed to be applying for compensation for blighted property even though the final go-ahead for the route has not yet been given.

The Government is renting out some of the properties, earning almost £1.5 million a year, and in two unspecified cases the tenants are the former owners.

Consideration is also being given to open up compensation packages for rural properties within 120 metres of the line and consultation is underway on payments of between £7,500 and £22,000 to rural residents living between 120 metres and 300 metres of the line.

There is also an exceptional hardship fund for those needing an urgent move.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We completely understand the concerns and anxieties of those living near the line and it is only right that those people are properly looked after.

"HS2 will transform many people's lives for the better but, where its impacts are less positive, we will do all we can to provide the right help and assistance."

The Government insists it pays a fair price for properties based on an independent valuation of what the property would be worth if the HS2 had not been proposed.

A premium of 10 per cent is also available to cover moving costs, stamp duty and other charges.

However, the 'Stop HS2' campaign group argues that homeowners are getting a standard payout.

Chairman Penny Gaines said: "The Government says they are being exceptionally generous, but they are not that generous, people are getting more or less the basic statutory compensation.

"These are just ordinary people who happened to buy a house in a place where the Government has decided it wants to build a railway line. Now they have been told they are in the way of a railway that will mainly be used by rich business travellers."

She said that, in the scheme of the £50 billion budget for HS2 phases one and two, the land acquisition payouts, either compulsory purchase or compensation, were a relatively small factor.

Richard Asher, the head of compulsory purchase at Savills estate agents, said: "These homes are the tip of the iceberg.

"There are a very substantial number of properties that are likely to be offered under one of the schemes that HS2 are proposing.

"The process can be a nightmare. If you take the exceptional hardship scheme, the parameters on which they decide if a claimant is suffering exceptional hardship is not terribly clear and the committee that considers each case is not independent of HS2, it has an HS2 representative on the panel.

"And effectively there is no form of appeal against it. Because it is going through open countryside, which is rarely affected by something like this, it has come as a shock to some people. It is causing genuine distress to some people."

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