Furious Hoyland people have called for their own public meeting after a presentation about the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail link turned into 'a veritable shambles'.
The planned link, which will connect London and Birmingham taking in Leeds and Manchester, cuts through Hoyland Common and Upper Hoyland and crosses Dearne Valley Parkway toward Worsbrough.
Work on it is due to start in 2017 with the first trains planned to run by 2026.
HS2 officials were invited to give a technical talk about the impact of tunnelling in Hoyland - but looked on bewildered as residents vented their anger at the meeting at Kirk Balk Community College.
People claimed the plans had 'blighted' their properties and also said any tunnelling would be disastrous, given the area's history of subsidence.
They said there were serious faults in the ground, methane gas and abandoned mining machinery, and removing thousands of tons of rubble from work on the tunnels would cause severe road problems.
One resident said HS2 had 'not done its homework' and Francis Hillard, who is over 75 and lives on Hoyland Road, said the presentation was 'grossly insulting'.
He said: "Do the presenters think this area doesn't know all about heavy engineering?"
He has now written to MP Michael Dugher saying it was 'a mistake' that Mr Dugher did not attend.
One resident claimed the planned route had knocked £100,000 off the value of her house. Another said: "There is a blight on my property now, and a lot of people's properties, and this is years before the scheme has even started. There should be compensation payments now."
Chairman Coun Robin Franklin repeatedly appealed for order at the meeting as residents staged an impromptu show of hands against the whole HS2 plan.
HS2 officials insisted studies showed Barnsley would 'do very well' out of the rail link which is set to slash journey times between London and Yorkshire by nearly an hour. But this was greeted by cynical groans.
After the meeting, resident Peter Wroe said: "It was badly organised - there weren't even any microphones for speakers. Lots of people, quite rightly, were shouting out on top of each other - a veritable shambles."
Consultation on the scheme started on July 17 and runs until January 31, 2014.
