Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis announced plans for a 250mph service linking Birmingham and London on Thursday.

The line, with an estimated cost of between £15.8 and £17.4 billion, could bring the capital within 46 minutes of Birmingham. Work is unlikely to start before 2017.

The public will be consulted on the proposed route, which will pass close to villages between Wormleighton and Ladbroke and Offchurch and to the west of Leamington and Kenilworth.

Warwick and Leamington's Labour MP James Plaskitt said he is seeking guarantees about local consultation over the proposed route, which passes villages including Cubbington, Eathorpe, Hunningham, Offchurch, Stoneleigh and Weston-under-Wetherley.

See the route here.

Last week, Mr Plaskitt had private meetings with Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, to discuss in detail the proposed route as it passes through Warwickshire, and part of his constituency.

After seeing detailed engineering drawings, he has asked for these to be shared with local communities as soon as possible.

The MP said the route included significant mitigation measures including a 1km tunnel near Long Itchington and a 2km, 20m deep cutting as it passes Cubbington.

But the train is on the surface as it passes Stoneleigh. Mr Plaskitt said he had already secured an undertaking from Lord Adonis that this needs further consideration.

Mr Plaskitt said: "The construction of a new high speed link from London to the Midlands and on to the north of England is vital to addressing our transport needs. Not to build it would mean yet more motorway construction and more flights and larger airports, and increasing congestion on the existing rail network.

"But the precise route will create inevitable controversy. That's why we must have a meaningful and intensive consultation."

He added, "Other routes have been under consideration and they all sit much further to the east of us, but they are thought to create bigger problems as they pass through the Chilterns.

"Extensive public consultation will help determine the route that is eventually selected."

The government has announced that formal public consultation will begin in the autumn and run for six months.

Parliamentary approval is required for the construction of new railway lines, so the next stage will be a bill before Parliament.

Mr Plaskitt said, "Whatever the route finally selected, the new high speed line will be a benefit to the West Midlands.

"It will be good for jobs and investment and is the right solution for the environment. It did prove possible in the end to find consent for the route of High Speed One – the line from London to the Channel Tunnel, so I hope it will prove possible also for High Speed Two.

"I think it will be seven years before a shovel hits the ground so there is plenty of time for extensive consultation, and hopefully eventual agreement on the route."

Cllr Nigel Rock, Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Kenilworth and Southam, warned that many residents would face "property blight" and said people might welcome the proposal if they would benefit.

He said: "The Liberal Democrats have been calling for some time for major improvements in public transport, and in particular for investment in more environmentally-friendly high-speed trains, so of course I welcome the proposal in principle.

"But looking at the proposed route it drives straight through the new constituency of Kenilworth and Southam, close to a number of villages.

"I am very concerned for the many hundreds of local people who will now face years of property blight and legal wrangling over the homes and farms in the proposed route, and the even larger number of constituents who will have to put up with enormous disruption to traffic for a couple of years while the work is completed."

Cllr Rock, a Stratford district councillor for Stockton and Napton, said he would be pressing for a new local station, possibly near Banbury so the economy in south Warwickshire would benefit.

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has questioned whether the proposed link offers a genuinely sustainable solution, and raised concerns over the impact of the route on wildlife, stopping some species moving around.

Chief executive Stephen Trotter said: "While in principle we would welcome better public transport and rail links as an alternative to air travel between Birmingham and London there are still lots of unanswered questions about the environmental impacts that the route might have on wildlife habitats and the wider landscape.

"We're worried that it could have an irreversible impact. Nor are we really clear that the proposed rail link is really necessary or justified from a business point of view."