HS2 and Birmingham council have reached an eleventh-hour agreement to carve up a 150-acre site in the city, avoiding taking the dispute to Parliament.
The council was due to go before a Parliamentary Select Committee on 21 and 22 July to raise its concerns about land take-up at Washwood Heath, all of which HS2 had wanted to use as a maintenance depot.
But an agreement was made ahead of the committee date that allows 37.5 acres of the site to be retained for the council to pursue its ambitions for a prime logistics park.
However, the land is safeguarded and will not be returned to the council until 2026.
Birmingham council had fought to keep the site for employment uses and lodged one of 1,900 formal petitions against HS2 earlier this year. That has now been withdrawn.
Waheed Nazir, director of planning and regeneration at the council, said: “We have now reached common ground.”
A spokesman for HS2 said: “We have had discussions with Birmingham council about working with them to maximise the Washwood Heath site.”
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
