The news that Rose Guiot had been dreading for the past decade was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. South Cubbington Wood, which has been a feature in her life since she was a child, will be partially destroyed to make way for HS2.

“I was brought up here. It’s always been home,” the 70-year-old retired teacher said after walking past tractors camped just outside the ancient woodland. In the past 10 years, Guiot and a local campaign group, Cubbington Action Group Against HS2, have handed in petitions, gone on protests and attended select committee hearings to make arguments for alternative routes, such as building a tunnel underneath the woodlands; these plans were dismissed.

The news is all the harder to take because just six miles up the road, the potential impact of HS2 on a local golf club was “virtually eliminated” following five years of negotiations. When HS2 was initially proposed, the route would have run across the eastern end of Kenilworth Golf Club course, but it has since been changed to run further east.

The golf club declined to comment, but its original petition on the subject read: “The loss of one hole on an 18-hole golf course will make the operation of the course unsustainable. Golf is a game played over 18 holes.”

For some campaigners, the success of that approach contrasts sharply with South Cubbington Wood – and highlights a misguided set of priorities for the government. “They’re telling us on one hand that woodland and nature is good for mental health, and then they’re doing this. It’s upsetting so many people,” Guiot said. The woodlands, which are free and have far more biodiversity, are far more important than golf courses, she said.

Peter Delow, who lives a ten minute walk from South Cubbington Wood, doesn’t believe it should be framed as a choice between the woodlands or the golf course. The 71-year-old retired engineer has long argued that the high speed rail line that will travel through the countryside between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds should be cancelled entirely.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Cubbington Action Group Against HS2 has set up a protest camp in the woods after its arguments for alternative routes were all dismissed. Photograph: John Robertson/The Guardian

“Over the last ten years, I’ve read countless documents on the project and written 400 blog posts on the matter and on all the grounds I’ve looked at it, from transport, the environment and financial perspective, it doesn’t actually make any sense,” he said.

While Delow has accepted that his efforts to stop the project through parliament have failed, a group of activists have set up a protest camp to stop South Cubbington Wood being destroyed. Among the group was Martin Newman, an accountant, who said that as well as the environmental impact, the costs of the project were “out of control”.

“The cost has jumped from £56bn in 2015 to as much as £106bn as of this month. It is a complete waste of money. We need investment in infrastructure, but it’s concentrating that investment in a narrow area,” he said, pointing to the fact the northern part of the railway line will likely be paused.

But for Lucy, who has worked for the past 15 years as a headhunter in global mega-projects, the railway is key to bridging the north-south divide and would be hugely beneficial for local businesses. “We’ve got ageing infrastructure, as a lot of reports show. It costs a lot more to upgrade all the existing Victorian infrastructure than to build new routes.”

The 37-year-old, who lives in Leamington Spa, added: “We used to be the forefront of the infrastructure, but if we don’t invest, we will start to fall behind.” She pointed to China, Japan and some European high speed rail as examples to emulate to kickstart the local economies in the north and Midlands, especially after Brexit.

Darren Galloway, who is self-employed and lives in Nuneaton, echoed Lucy’s points. The 40-year-old said: “Unfortunately there are a lot of outdated and very narrow minded views from residents which do not allow for the development of the country let alone the area, for the benefit of the future generations.”

But Penny McGregor, among the protestors at South Cubbington Wood, said there wasn’t enough focus on the impact HS2 will have on local farmers. The high speed railway will go through a chunk of her father’s farmland, which has impacted him both emotionally and financially, she said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Martin Newman (above) said the cost of the project was ‘out of control’. Photograph: John Robertson/The Guardian

“I don’t think Boris Johnson is really thinking about what he is actually doing and the destruction he is causing by saying ‘let’s go ahead with it’. Many farmers are in distress; there is a lot of depression and anxiety associated with this project,” she said.

McGregor said that when she heard the news that the government had given the green light to the project, she felt like there was a dagger through her heart. “It’s just a train for goodness sake, it’s just a train. You don’t have to destroy so many lives for a train.”