Tunnelling for the new HS2 line through south Manchester could ‘considerably’ add to gridlock on the M56 and other main roads into the city, the council has warned.

A report going before members next week provides an update on plans for the £56bn new route, which is due to be up and running by 2033.

It reveals Manchester council has strongly objected to the project's plans to build a huge ventilation shaft on the playing fields of a new school in Rusholme.

And it suggests the town hall has struggled to get information on how the seven-and-a-half underground section of the line - which would run from Ardwick to Trafford, under neighbourhoods including Fallowfield, Rusholme and Wythenshawe - would be built.

Construction would not begin for another five years, but the council has already flagged the likelihood of significant disruption.

“We have...repeatedly pushed HS2 Ltd for further details on the arrangements for, and impacts of, the tunnel construction, particularly at either end of the tunnel,” says the report.

“In particular, there are likely to be considerable transport movements arising from the movement of materials to and from the sites, associated with the construction process.”

While the council says details of ‘how construction would be managed are still emerging’, it suggests more work needs to be done with the authorities that oversee the city’s major road network.

“We are... also liaising with Highways England, and stressing to HS2 Ltd the need to involve them in this issue, given the likelihood that it will considerably add to existing pressures on the M56 and routes into and out of the city centre,” it adds.

The report also says Manchester council have pushed back on HS2’s plans to place a 25m tunnel vent on the playing fields of Manchester Enterprise Academy in Rusholme.

That was one of four places selected by the project - also including Withington golf course, junction 3a of the M56 and the car park of the Christie hospital - for vents last year, but the council says that since day one it has told HS2 that the Rusholme location was ‘unacceptable’.

“Officers have consistently advised HS2 Ltd that there was planning permission for a school, and now an operational school, on the site and alternatives must be looked at,” says the report.

(Image: UGC MEN)

HS2 had not ‘taken this advice on board’ in its latest proposals, it says, but have ‘subsequently started to look at alternative locations’.

“We have suggested that they consider Fallowfield Retail Park, Birchfields Road, as a possible substitute location,” it adds.

A spokesman for HS2 said: “HS2 is coming to Manchester and the region will reap significant benefits as a result.

"Over 90 companies in the North West have already been awarded contracts working on the project, and we expect that number to increase significantly as plans for Phase Two of the railway progress.

"When construction peaks, as the Phase Two network progresses, the number of jobs supported by HS2 is forecast to rise to 30,000.

“We recently launched our public consultation on the Working Draft Environmental Statement which sets out our commitment to minimising the impacts of the railway during construction and operation. We actively encourage communities to get involved in the consultation and have their say in shaping plans for the railway.”

The report also says officers are continuing to work with HS2 to try and get the new Piccadilly Station design as close as possible to the council’s aspirations, which are a lot more ambitious than the version initially proposed by rail chiefs.

Several public events on the planned line are due to take place in the coming weeks, aimed at giving the public more information about the proposals.

The first will take place on November 20, between 3pm and 7pm, at Britannia Hotel on Palatine Road in Northenden.

Another will be held on December 3 at the Holiday Inn in Piccadilly from 2pm to 8pm, while a third will follow on December 4 at the Marriott Hotel at Junction 6 of the M56.