AN INDEPENDENT review is to analyse whether and how the HS2 rail project should continue.

Former HS2 Ltd chairman Douglas Oakervee will lead the inquiry, with Lord Berkeley - a long-term critic of the high-speed railway scheme - as his deputy.

The Department for Transport said the review will consider a number of factors, including its benefits, impacts, affordability, efficiency, scope and phasing.

A final report will be sent to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps - with oversight from Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Sajid Javid - by the autumn, to 'inform the Government's decisions on next steps for the project.'

The review will examine how much 'realistic potential' there is for cost reductions by amending the scope of the project, such as reducing the speed of trains, building only Phase 1, between London and Birmingham, and altering plans for Phase 2b, which currently involves taking the line to Manchester and Leeds.

The latter option would have an impact on travellers from York to London, and on residents in Church Fenton, near Tadcaster, where a spur from the line would feed into the existing East Coast Mainline, affecting properties.