HS2 has stunned Regent’s Park residents by announ­c­ing the demolition of a 250-metre stretch of wall.

The demolition of the Park Village East wall, pictured – at junctions between Granby Street and Mornington Street bridge – was included in original “environmental statements” in the rail project Bill agreed by Parliament earlier this year. HS2 Ltd found the parapet wall was unsafe during surveys of a derelict trackside cargo shed it also intends to demolish early next year.

But Robert Latham, chairman of Silsoe House residents’ group in Park Village East, said HS2 was causing “a real sense of loss”. The project would “destroy the character of an area, once renowned as ‘a quiet oasis of green’,” he warned Mr Latham is calling on HS2 to make assurances that it will rebuild the wall as soon as possible.

HS2 said its latest surveys had found that “the wall is structurally unstable and therefore needs to be removed”.