MPs will start considering Parliamentary petitions against HS2 in July, it was announced today.

The High Speed Rail Bill Select Committee will sit for the first time on July 1 to start considering responses to the controversial project's petitioning process.

A total of 1,925 petitions were sent to Parliament from residents, campaign groups, councils and MPs.

The committee will sit three times a week for four weeks, with a separate, further, programme taking place in September.

A number of people and groups will be challenged by the committee about whether they have the right to appear before them, in hearings known as ‘locus standi’.

Buckinghamshire County Council and the four district councils in the county have all submitted petitions, as have the parish and town councils of West Wycombe, Bradenham, Princes Risborough, Chesham, Amersham, Little Missenden, The Lee and the two Chalfonts.

MPs to submit petitions include Cheryl Gillan - who sent in another one alongside David Lidington - John Bercow, Frank Dobson and Caroline Spelman. London Mayor Boris Johnson also sent in a response on behalf of the London Assembly.

Several county schools handed in petitions, as did a number of businesses in the Great Missenden area, the Amersham-based HS2 Action Alliance and the Chiltern Countryside Group.

Looking nationally there were also representations made by the Ramblers' Association, Post Office Limited, the National Grid, Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd - and the English Folk Dancing and Song Society.