Rail link angers Tory heartland

The government has published its preferred route for a high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham.

The line, costing £33 billion and originally announced by the Labour government, will cut travel times between the capital and Birmingham from 90 minutes to around 40 minutes.

But the 250mph railway has run into angry opposition from people living near the route worried about their homes and its effect on the countryside, many of them in heartland Conservative Party constituencies.

The Government says it has made alterations to half of the route to meet concerns of residents and conservation groups.

Transport Minister Philip Hammond told Parliament: "Significant amendments have been made to both the vertical and horizontal alignment, and to the proposed mitigation measures. In total, around 50 per cent of the preferred route proposal published in March has been amended in some respect."

He said Heathrow Airport would have its own spur to the high speed line, but not until the programme's second phase, which would include a "Y" shaped route with one branch going northwest to Manchester and another northeast via Leeds.

The link to Birmingham, expected to be built over more than a decade from 2017, is the first part of a planned connection to the north of England and eventually Scotland.

Mr Hammond said a consultation on the route would start in the New Year and would be one of the biggest and most wide-ranging ever undertaken by government.