A Northwich councillor has called for answers on the future of local transport projects after Rish Sunak pulled the plug on the northern leg of HS2.

Following widespread speculation, the Prime Minister finally announced this week that the Birmingham-Manchester leg would not now be going ahead.

Part of the project was due to pass through Cheshire West, with the council having already spent more than £130,000 on work to pave the way for the route, money which it can not claw back.

Leftwich Councillor Andrew Cooper spoke in Parliament in February to try and secure promises from HS2 bosses on ground conditions across the brine field, and to limit disruption while the A556 was rebuilt.

Commenting on the news of the cancellation, Cllr Cooper said: “HS2 has been mismanaged from start to finish. First, the route was reportedly diverted away from the more affluent parts of East Cheshire by the intervention of then Chancellor George Osborne and was instead proposed to go over the top of a gas storage facility in Lach Dennis.

“Then the route sifting process failed to take account of the historic brine subsidence issues here in Mid Cheshire.

“I’m not sure too many tears will be shed in Northwich if we’re spared the years of disruption and risk to Northwich businesses as the A556 is rebuilt.”

He added: “However, this announcement leaves a lot of unanswered questions. We desperately need the two new platforms promised for Manchester Piccadilly to take additional trains per hour from Northwich.

“We need far better East-West connectivity, which would have been provided by Northern Powerhouse Rail. The future of this project now looks bleak.

“HS2 Ltd had also committed to contribute around £1.73m towards construction of the new Middlewich bypass.

“We need urgent clarification from the Government that it will honour its commitments to ensure these vital and long-awaited projects can go ahead.”

Mr Sunak said he would be scrapping the northern leg of the scheme during his conference speech, stating that all the money saved would instead be re-invested in other transport projects such as new roads.