A SOUTH Bucks MP says she will “stand with the readers of the Bucks Free Press” in opposing plans for a high speed rail route for the county.

Cheryl Gillan, the MP for Chesham and Amersham, made the announcement after the names of hundreds of readers who have backed our 'No to High Speed' were officially presented to her in a petition at the Houses of Parliament yesterday.

Scores of you filled out our campaign forms or emailed in to show your opposition to the controversial High Speed 2 rail plan, which if given the go-ahead would cut through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and tunnel underneath Amersham and the Chalfonts.

Accepting the petition from BFP reporter Andy Carswell, Mrs Gillan – whose constituency covers much of the AONB – said: “I am delighted to have received the petition from the readers of the Bucks Free Press, reflecting their opposition to the previous Government's preferred high speed rail route.

“I know that my colleagues in the Department for Transport will take these representations seriously - having already shown their clear intention to listen closely to those potentially affected by HS2, extending the consultation on the Exceptional Hardship Scheme by four weeks.

“This issue is of great concern to me and so many of my constituents. I am pleased to say that the Government continues to examine alternatives to the route bequeathed to us by Labour and I shall make my views known in the strongest terms.

“I stand with the readers of the Bucks Free Press on this issue: High Speed Rail can bring enormous benefits to our economy and to our environment, but it cannot and should not be done without balancing those benefits with the impact on some of our country's most precious landscapes.”

Meanwhile, members of neighbouring Wycombe District Council's planning committee have said a compensation scheme “does not go far enough” and “should be expanded if it is to appropriately and fairly address the impact of the HS2 announcement”.

Residents living in the 'close vicinity' of the planned line are eligible for the Exceptional Hardship Scheme – but the council has called for its scope to be extended.

A report said: “Eligibility should not be restricted to either 'close vicinity' or exceptional circumstances.”