Leeds Council said almost 700 hectares of land is currently being safeguarded for the project and some of it is “valuable brownfield land” worth more than £8m per hectare.

Developers have been prevented from building on those sites as there were plans to build a new high-speed line running into a redeveloped Leeds Station.

The project was due to kickstart a major redevelopment known as South Bank, which promised to double the size of Leeds city centre and create 8,000 new homes.

Leeds Council said almost 700 hectares of land is being safeguarded for the project and some of it is “valuable brownfield land” worth more than £8m per hectare.

Mike Briffett, former president of Leeds Chamber of Commerce, said the land “largely remains undeveloped” and this is “stalling the city’s ambitions” for South Bank.

He said there is “a lot of frustration” that more than 10 years of work on bringing HS2 to Leeds is being scrapped.

HS2 Ltd will begin releasing land by next summer, but said any property needed for Northern Powerhouse Rail will “remain protected”.

The company said it does not own “the vast majority” of the land, but any property which has been bought will be offered back to former owners or their successors.

An image of what the Leeds Station could have looked like, if if it was redeveloped for HS2

“Otherwise it is expected that land will be sold on the open market,” a spokeswoman added.

The council, which works with HS2 Ltd to safeguard the land, has been warned that some of it will need to be kept from developers if it wants to hold onto any hope of turning Leeds Station into a T-shaped facility with a high-speed line running south.

It has previously stated that a new north-south line would put the city at the heart of a network of 14m people running from the Midlands up to the North East and Scotland.

Councillor James Lewis, leader of the council, said the Government needs to set out a clear plan to upgrade the north's rail network and "provide certainty for businesses and residents”.

Boris Johnson’s government decided the eastern leg of HS2 would not run to Leeds in 2021, but said the land would not be released as it was exploring options to take HS2 services to the city via another route.

Mr Sunak then decided to scrap the entire second phase of the infrastructure project to save money, meaning the line will not run north of Birmingham.

Some political leaders in Leeds hope that Labour will revive the project if it wins the next General Election and bring a high-speed to Leeds.

But Sir Keir Starmer has said the party cannot commit to building the northern leg if the Government takes “a wrecking ball” to it, by releasing safeguarded land and cancelling construction contracts.

The government-owned company HS2 Ltd has previously spent more than £585m on buying land and buildings for the sections of HS2 that would have run from Birmingham on to Manchester and Leeds.

'Valuable' land kept for HS2 in Leeds over 10 years will be sold off