'It looks an absolute mess!': Birmingham locals react to huge HS2 Bellingham bridge towering over their homes
Residents of Birmingham's Nechells area express mixed feelings about the ongoing construction of the HS2 Bellingham bridge, with concerns over parking and beauty
Nechells is only a short distance from Birmingham's city centre, and you can't help but notice the trains and traffic that are all around as soon as you arrive.
However, the HS2 Curzon 2 viaduct, nicknamed the Bellingham bridge (after Jude Bellingham) is another reality that residents have recently had to get used to due to the HS2 project.
When it is completed, the bridge, will be the tallest structure in the one-mile stretch of connected viaducts being built through the city’s inner-city areas.
So far, its structure is one that divides opinion, and one thing is for certain, and that is that it has changed the landscape of Nechells.
One local who works in Nechells said of the bridge, “I think it looks an absolute mess. I think its an absolute waste of money. I can’t see why they’ve had to go so high with it, for what purpose?”
The local was also critical of how long the bridge has taken to build, pointing out “that little structure there has taken two years to build”.
For another resident, Raheema, 25, who lives in the flats where the HS2 structure overlooks, her main concern centred on parking.
“Because of the HS2, I don't know if this is a direct matter, that probably relates, but parking is so bad for us because we don't have park permits. We've tried to request it from the council and we can't get any sort of parking permits.
“It's a nightmare for traffic, it never used to be this bad around our area. Great for the area that there's something coming in to Nechells but it's just so, so bad now.”
“We used to live here since 2002, my family did. And obviously then we moved out, gave it to tenants and then when we came back, tenants also complained of the same thing but when we came back, we're just like what the hell is going on with the parking? It was never this bad.”
Reminiscing, Raheema said she misses the old skyline of the city, she said. “We could see the BT Tower from here. Now what do we see? You can't see the BT Tower anymore? You can't see nothing now.”
Similarly, a delivery man, complained at the lack of parking, comparing the situation to Digbeth, “a lot of the customers in Digbeth, it's all parking permits but none of them have got permits. So even if it was a parking permit area, you're still going to get that permit.”
Later that day, on a tour of HS2’s Curzon 2 viaduct, Mohammed Sharif from Bordesley Green, 19, who has worked for HS2 shared how the new development had created opportunities for young people across the city. For him, the bridge was actually quite beautiful.
He shared: “I actually think its beautiful, when you know about the work that has gone in, the level of detail on a structure like this is crazy.”
When complete, it is hoped that HS2 will improve transport connections between London and the West Midlands.