No information on the next stage of HS2 until new year
THE HIGH Speed 2 rail link was among the transport plans to be left out of the Autumn Statement yesterday, with the chancellor stating that details on the second phase of the route have been delayed until next year.
The £33bn HS2 proposal will link London to Birmingham, and later Leeds and Manchester.
A decision on the preferred route north of Birmingham was pencilled in for late 2012, but this has been pushed back to next year.
However, Osborne said a team is looking at cutting £1.5bn from the construction cost of the route.
Lawyers for the government are due at the High Court tomorrow to defend the decision-making process around HS2, as part of a judicial review hearing.