IT WAS meant to finally give the people of the borough answers, but Monday’s HS2 announcement produced only more uncertainty and confusion.

The government revealed the route for the extension of the high-speed line north of Birmingham, then said it had delayed any decision on the spur to Heathrow Airport until after the Sir Howard Davies’s aviation report is delivered in 2015.

It did publish what would have been the route for the spur – south from Ickenham at Breakspear Road, through New Denham, then close to Uxbridge and Cowley before going into a tunnel to the airport.

HS2 Ltd has announced that anyone affected by the spur route will be able to apply for its exceptional hardship scheme, as part of the phase 2 consultation which will be held eventually.

Hillingdon Council’s leader, Councillor Ray Puddifoot, hit out at the government. “There is an obvious lack of joined-up thinking here,” he said.

“They seem to be lurching from one idea to the next and hoping that it all comes together somehow. It beggars belief.”

Keri Brennan, of Hillingdon Against HS2, criticised the timing of the announcement, coming as the government and protesters wait for the verdict of last year’s judicial review into the legality of the consultation process for phase 1.

She said: “To announce this before the judicial review has been handed down smacks of arrogance.

“I would accuse the government of tunnel vision, but they seem to be blind when it comes to tunnels.”

There are fears the borough could be left facing the possibility of the third runway at Heathrow in the south, if the Davies report recommends the expansion of the airport, and the HS2 line across the north.

Hayes and Harlington MP John Mc Donnell said: “Because of yet another government delay, my constituents are faced with the worst of all worlds.

“This continuing uncertainty is unacceptable,” the Labour member added. “It is certainly no way to run a railway or a transport policy.

“I am calling on the government to bring forward the Davies Commission report on airports, so that this report can rule out Heathrow expansion once and for all and then the government can be honest about its plans for linking HS2 with Heathrow.”

His views were echoed by the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP, Conservative John Randall, who urged his party’s leaders to make a decision soon, and said he continued to oppose any expansion of Heathrow.

“The announcement that no decision will be made on the HS2 Heathrow loop until late in 2015 is a disappointment to me, as I had hope that it would be abandoned altogether,” he added.

“However, it does at least mean that the obvious correlation between further expansion and this part of the HS2 project should ensure that those opposed to further expansion and the Heathrow loop should have common cause, strengthening the campaign against both.

“I would have preferred that both these matters were decided sooner rather than later, as the blight and uncertainty will continue to hang over Hillingdon residents.”

n Your views are welcome, as always. See pages 14 and 15 for ways to get in touch.