OXFORDSHIRE County Council has joined a group of local authorities opposing the Government’s £32bn HS2 plan to build a high-speed railway line between London and Birmingham.

The proposed route would cut across the north-east corner of Oxfordshire between Finmere and Mixbury closely following the line of a former railway.

The council has signed up to the 51m group, which takes its name from the amount of money in millions of pounds that the project, known as HS2, would cost every Parliamentary constituency in Britain.

Cherwell District Council is also a member.

Rodney Rose, the county’s cabinet member for transport, said: “We cannot but reflect on what we could do with just a fraction of £32bn to invest in local transport infrastructure.”