Engineering news
Amendments to the High Speed 2 railway and the legislation surrounding it have been agreed by MPs.
The agreement means a special committee examining the plans, which are slowly moving through Parliament under the unusual "Hybrid Bill" procedure, can now consider the latest tweaks to the route and the planned works to build the line.
The amendments give by people affected by the £50 billion line an additional four weeks to petition the committee and raise complaints and concerns about the plans, which will link London to Birmingham with high speed trains by 2026.
A second phase is proposed to extend the line to Manchester and Leeds, via Sheffield, by 2033.
Transport minister Robert Goodwill said: "These amendments demonstrate while the government recognises the vital role HS2 has to play in transforming our transport network and our economy, we also recognise the need to listen to those directly affected by the railway and, wherever possible, seek to mitigate those impacts."
Goodwill said the proposed 125 changes – all along the route beyond Camden – had either been asked for by landowners during the petitioning process or come up as part of the ongoing design process.
He described them as "mostly minor", with some exceptions, including the realigning of the route in the Lichfield area to reduce the visual impact and the relocation of the Heathrow Express depot to a site near Slough.
Goodwill told MPs none of the changes would affect the overall budget as they would be accommodated by contingency money.
Shadow minister Lilian Greenwood said: "Many of these revisions are undoubtedly positive and the campaigners who secured changes such as the reconfiguration of the route at the point it crosses the A38 deserve great credit.
"Those changes will reduce planning blight for petitioners and provide some measure of certainty to many of those who live along the route."
The motion was agreed unopposed by MPs.