Plans for massive viaducts that could be built in Leeds as part of the highly controversial High Speed 2 (HS2) project have been branded 'inadequate'.
Last month, transport secretary Chris Grayling launched a 13-week public consultation on plans to make 11 design changes to Phase 2b of the high speed rail line, that is due to link Birmingham and Leeds.
Under the old plans, the HS2 line was going to predominantly run along ground level and on embankments in Leeds, but, if approved, one of the design changes will see two huge viaducts get built between Leeds station and Woodlesford.
The campaign group Yorkshire HS2 Against Group has described the proposed viaduct as 'monstrous', and said it will have a 'severe visual impact' on communities living in Leeds.
As part of the consultation, Leeds City Council, which supports the £55.7 billion HS2 project, was asked to have its say on the proposals, but the council says it can't because they lack detail.
A council report states: "The council’s design refinement consultation response will be clear that the current visual information provided by HS2 ltd on the viaduct proposal is inadequate.
"Without the inclusion of adequate visual information, the council is unable to comment at present if the proposals set out in the design refinement consultation are acceptable.
"To enable a meaningful consultation with stakeholders, local communities and businesses it is imperative that HS2 ltd provide a visualisation of the viaduct alongside detailed design information on the architectural style and treatment of the proposed design.
"The council will press HS2 ltd as part of our ongoing dialogue to provide this information at the earliest opportunity."
The Department for Transport says these viaducts will reduce railway disruption during construction and save money, as they won't have to reconstruct nine bridges between the M1 and the Southbank, or realign the Hallam Line.
But it also admits the viaducts will 'increase the visual impacts of the scheme on communities from Woodlesford to central Leeds' as it will 'change the height of the route for 8 kilometres'.
Under the new plans, the high-speed trains would emerge from a tunnel near the village of Woodlesford, climb onto a viaduct on the northern edge of Rothwell County Park and run over the M1 and the Hallam Line.
They will then continue along a 400 metre embankment near Pontefract Road before travelling along another 3.3 kilometre viaduct to Leeds station.
However, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, regional leaders across the north and a House of Lords select committee, are concerned the government may overspend on the first phase of the project and run out of money before completing northern sections of the railway.
The government says phase one of the high-speed rail link will open between London and Birmingham in December 2026, before phase two of the project sees the railway get extended to Crewe, Manchester and Leeds by 2033.
But the second phase is still awaiting parliamentary approval and critics say the money would be better spent on improving northern infrastructure.
The council's executive board will discuss the plans in more detail at a meeting on Wednesday, July 24.
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