John Bishop sells his £6.8m mansion to transport bosses behind HS2 despite blasting the scheme

John Bishop has sold his family home Whatcroft Hall to transport bosses behind HS2 for £7million – despite hitting out at the rail project in the past.

Bishop bought the 24-acre mansion in Northwich, Cheshire, for £2.25million in 2013 but sold it to The Secretary of State for Transport for £6.8million in September.

It is the largest sum paid by HS2 chiefs for a domestic building to date.

The 52-year-old funnyman ‘maintains his opposition to HS2’

The 52-year-old Liverpudlian has frequently spoken out against HS2, stating that it will ‘devastate communities’.

During a Thomas The Tank Engine-style sketch in 2014 – where he voiced a gold HS2 train – he branded the project the ‘Great Train Robbery’ as his character ploughed through rural houses.

‘I will devastate communities – and destroy unique wildlife habitats,’ he said in the two-minute video.

He has also repeatedly taken to Twitter to hit out at HS2.

He posted in 2016: ‘Anyone looking at the details of this sees how flawed it is, including every independent review.’

Bishop even got into a spat with social media users after tweeting about Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg’s assessment of HS2 on Question Time.

He posted on February 14: ‘I disagree with Jacob Rees-Mogg on just about everything but watching BBC Question Times I can’t argue with his assessment of HS2 ‘a complete waste of money that should be scrapped’ …!’

He later commented: ‘HS2 is not the only construction opportunity- what about connection the east to west and create the northern powerhouse as promised …?’ 

Bishop added in response to one account: ‘I am not defending him …I can’t believe he is even an MP because I disagree with so much he says – my point is the scheme is the problem and it needs high profile politicians to say HS2 doesn’t add up to get it cancelled.’

And today, a spokesman for Bishop said the comedian ‘maintains his opposition to HS2’.

‘He is unhappy, like many others affected by the promiximity of the proposed line, that he was left with no choice but to sell his family home to HS2, as the proposed line had rendered it unsellable on the open market – thus destroying all he and his family had worked for.’

It comes after transport bosses have forked out over £500million to buy hundreds of houses where the railway may go – with Bishop’s seven-bedroom property being around 150m west of the proposed track.

Bishop put the house up for sale in 2016.

But the proximity of the new track to his house was said to make it unsellable, so he applied to the HS2’s Need To Sell scheme.

Whatcroft Hall was valued twice by HS2 surveyors and an offer was made below the market value, which Bishop reluctantly accepted.

A spokesman for HS2 told the Sun on Sunday: ‘We have to buy land to build HS2, as well as properties impacted by the project, and we have to pay the owners what it’s worth.

‘Some properties cost more than others, but in each case we are paying a price that’s fair to both homeowners and taxpayers.’We have the budget to do this, and we are within that budget.’

HS2 said two independently qualified valuers are used to assess the properties and they use the average if they are similar.

HS2 has so far spent over £500million on buying houses along the proposed route, with Bishop’s seven-bedroom property being around 150m west of it

Failing that, additional valuations are carried out. 

It is understood HS2 Ltd is struggling to keep costs within the overall budget of £56billion – with figures of £80billion reported.

Passengers are expected to be able to use the first phase of the 250mph-route between London and Birmingham from 2026.

Yet work on phase two of the line – to connect Birmingham with Leeds and Manchester – is not due to begin until 2024.