A COMMUNITY group bidding to stop the 'devastating' effect of the High Speed Two (HS2) rail route has backed a public petition which has been submitted to Parliament.

Culcheth and District Rail Action Group (CADRAG) wants the Government to reconsider its plans for the spur.

CADRAG members, along with community groups in Trafford and Lowton, drew up a petition, which has been handed to the House of Commons by Altrincham and Sale West MP Graham Brady.

The spur was set to be routed through a number of homes in Culcheth, Rixton and Glazebrook and would have gone through Taylor Business Park.

Parts of the plans were set to be scrapped but ministers are yet to have officially confirmed the exact blueprints of the route, which has raised fears among residents.

The petition has been signed by more than one thousand residents who could be affected by the project.

The Government proposed to include a link to the west coast main line (WCML) at Golborne, known as the Golborne link.

It has been met with widespread opposition during the route consultation period and has been labelled as 'expensive, unnecessary and destructive to the environment'.

During consultation, CADRAG urged the Government to ensure the HS2 spur would join the WCML at Crewe.

Campaigners believe upgrading the WCML between and Crewe and Golborne, and onwards to Wigan, will provide the 'required additional capacity' for HS2 and conventional trains.

They believe the Golborne link will be unnecessary if the proposed Crewe hub station goes ahead as a link to the WCML and believe it will cost '£1 billion more than the alternative link' at Crewe and associated WCML upgrades, which are being tipped to improve train services to Warrington.

Warrington South MP David Mowat admits he is concerned over elements of the project but has been reassured.

He said: "I agree that construction of HS2 will cause a great deal of disruption.

"That might be justified if the section of track between High Legh and Wigan was an integral part of the overall project, but this is simply not the case.

"The chair of HS2 Ltd told me, at a public meeting, earlier this year that he had recommended that this particular section of HS2 should be removed from the overall project.

"I agree with him – this section of track will be highly expensive and add virtually nothing to the business case."