The High Speed 2 line, which will provide a direct service from London to Birmingham, would also run near Wendover, Hartwell, Stoke Mandeville, Quainton, Great Missenden, Waddesdon and Steeple Claydon.

No new train station would be built on the line to serve the Vale and there are fears about the environmental impact of the line in the district.

A full public consultation can be held in the autumn.

HS2 chairman Sir Brian Briscoe said: "High speed rail has enormous potential to benefit the UK, but the project will never get going without public support – which is why it is so important that we now prepare thoroughly for a full public consultation that gives everybody the chance to state their views and make their voice heard, particularly those who may be directly affected by the line.

"That process of open engagement and dialogue will ultimately be as crucial to the success of High Speed Two as world-class engineering and construction."

Although it was anticipated that the route would run through the Chilterns, the fact it runs so close to Aylesbury has come as a surprise.

The news rocked today's examination in public of the district council's housing growth plans.

Inspector Geoff Salter said that a special day may have to be alloted to the inquiry to look at the impact the route would have on Aylesbury and the growth plans.