HS2: Saved, by £600m high-speed detour Martin Tett, leader of Tory-controlled Buckinghamshire county council, who is coordinating the campaign by local authorities opposed to the scheme, said: "The line seems to do a loop around the wealthiest parts of Tatton, which is interesting because we were told there was no way it could do anything other than go in a straight line, no matter what stood in its path. In the south it has to go in a straight line, but in the north it can do a detour, costing several hundred million pounds extra. He added, ironically: "I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, after all it can't have been done for political reasons, can it?" The Government argues that extra capacity is needed because the West Coast mainline is effectively full and a high-speed route will rebalance the economy between the North and South. Cheryl Gillan, the Tory MP whose Chesham and Amersham constituency lies in the path of the London-Birmingham section of HS2, which will be built first, said: "The irony is that when phase one was announced it was all about speed, but now that the northern section has been unveiled we're being told it's all about capacity. If the Government has decided the northern section should meander through the country, they had better have a rethink about the route of the southern section. Steve Rodrick, the chief officer of the Chilterns Conservation Board was equally incensed by the detour. "Those of us in the Chilterns were told that there was no choice but to bisect the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty because high-speed railways have to be straight," he said. So we are bewildered why HS2, north of Birmingham, veers miles off the straightest alignment. We want to know why greater efforts were not made to avoid the Chiltern Hills. A spokesman for Mr Osborne insisted that he played no part in choosing the route. A Department for Transport spokesman said Mr Osborne's constituents had not been given special treatment. "The design of the route through the constituency followed the same process as it did everywhere else and it is wrong to suggest otherwise," he said. The initial preferred route has been chosen to provide the best possible service to Liverpool, Manchester Airport and West Coast Main Line links to Scotland. As elsewhere, the route balances passenger demand, cost, engineering and sustainability. The row over Tatton is only one of a number of likely controversies over the 351-mile route, which is due to be completed by 2032. In Turweston, Bucks, a building society has refused a mortgage for a property in the village that has been blighted by the first phase of the project. According to the Department for Transport, 227 homes will face compulsory purchase. The Country Land & Business Association said plans for the route linking Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds would blight rural enterprises. "The Government has rushed through today's route announcement before two major consultations on phase one have finished, showing contempt for rural land and business owners," said Harry Cotterell, its president. There are fears that plans for a series of viaducts will despoil the countryside and campaigners were also critical of proposals to build HS2 stations outside Derby and Sheffield rather than in the city centres, which, they said, would increase journey times. Baroness Valentine, the chief executive of London First, welcomed the plans. A well-functioning rail network with new connections, greater capacity and faster journeys will not only support London's economy but also provide benefits to the UK as a whole. It will enable many northern cities to benefit from easier access to the engine room of the UK economy.