Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has hailed the appointment of Sir David Higgins as High Speed 2 chairman by making comparisons between the rail project and last year's Olympic Games.

Sir David arrives from Network Rail and will replace HS2 chairman Doug Oakervee in January. He will team up with Lord Deighton, the chairman of the 'HS2 Growth Taskforce'. Both David Higgins and Lord Deighton previously worked to help organise the London Games.

"We've brought back the Olympic dream team to deliver HS2, with two stars who made London 2012 such a brilliant success," the Transport Secretary proudly told the Conservative party conference in Manchester on Monday.

Mr McLoughlin responded to growing criticism about the cost of the HS2 project by promising to "squeeze every penny of economic benefit" out of the line and cut down on costs.

He added that Government will legislate to give the Highways Agency independence and has pledged to bring forward plans to make foreign lorries pay to use British roads to April next year.

Also at conference the Chancellor George Osborne promised to freeze fuel duty for the rest of this Parliament.

In another announcement last week the Transport Secretary promised £25M of Government funding to help relieve 15 bottlenecks on local roads in England. And councils are invited to bid for a share of a further £55M for congestion relieving schemes by the end of October. The investment forms part of Government's Local Pinch Point Fund.

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