A NEW route is being considered which would take the proposed £5.6 billion Central Railway line and its freight trains away from the Wycombe area.

Consultants have been commissioned by the South East England Development Agency (Seeda) to draw up an alternative route for the southern end of the north-south line. This would go east of London, not west. Their report should be ready in about three months.

The decision to reconsider the suggested Central Railway route was taken after a meeting of county council leaders and officers at Gerrards Cross a few weeks ago.

It was hosted by David Shakespeare, leader of Buckinghamshire County Council and chairman of the South East Regional Assembly, and Seeda chairman Allan Willett.

They said they realised they must support the strategy of getting heavy freight traffic off roads and on to rail but that, if they were not to be stuck with a route they did not like, they would have to come up with an alternative.

The current proposed route goes through the middle of Buckinghamshire and along the Chiltern Line through Haddenham, Princes Risborough and High Wycombe. The proposal created an outcry from people along this part of the line, who say they gain no immediate benefit, only noise.

After the Gerrards Cross meeting, Cllr Shakespeare told the Free Press the feedback he had from it was that the line went round the wrong side of London. It should go through Milton Keynes and via the area known as Thames Gateway a growth area.

Regional assembly leaders in the north of England are in favour of the Central Railway project. Only the south-east region is against it.

Central Railway wants the Government to introduce another bill in the Commons to push the project through. People would give evidence at the committee stage and there would be no need for two or three years of planning inquiries.

Mr Williams said there was lots of pressure for the scheme from the northern regions. "They get lots of benefits from it, which is the opposite of the south, which gets disbenefits," he said.

A Central Railway spokesman said: "Central Railway has undertaken extensive engineering studies using international consultants, and the route to the west of London emerged as our preferred route. We are delighted that Seeda supports the concept of a new freight line linking the UK to the continent and we will continue to consult with them and many other groups as proposals are finalised."