A BETTER route for Central Railway's £5.6 billion rail freight line from Liverpool to Lille, could be via Milton Keynes and east of London, rather than through the middle of Buckinghamshire with a terminus in the south of the county.

The idea was floated last week by Bill Chapple, deputy leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, who said a terminus north of London would be better, with the line continuing east of the capital.

The latest Government planning guidance stressed the need to improve the area east of London, get it out of the slums and reduce unemployment, he said.

The idea of a different route was also taken up at a meeting of leaders and chief executives of county councils from the Home Counties at Gerrards Cross this week.

Buckinghamshire County Council leader David Shakespeare said the feedback he had from the meeting was that the line went round the wrong side of London.

He said it should go through Milton Keynes and via the area known as Thames Gateway - a growth area.

MP David Lidington (Aylesbury, Con) also thought the idea made sense.

The west coast line (which runs down the east of the country) is a main line and it would be sensible to include capacity to take this amount of extra freight traffic, he said.

Cllr Shakespeare, chairman of the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA), was one of five regional leaders called to a meeting with Central Railway in the House of Commons last month by Trade and Industry Minister Richard Caborn.

They were asked whether they were prepared to see a bill introduced into the Commons to speed up Central Railway's plans.

Cllr Shakespeare, who was the only one to tell the minister that he was not in favour, said he thought the Government would go for the bill if they felt the regions backed it.

"It was difficult to see what we get out of it, apart from noise, pollution and construction work," he said.

He said the American engineering company Parsons, who would be helping to build the freight line, didn't want to spend several years going through a bruising planning experience.

Central Railway wants the Government to introduce the bill, called a hybrid bill, to get the scheme discussed in one fell swoop. People would give evidence and object at the committee stage and there would be no need for two or three years of planning inquiries.

Officers from SEERA were meeting the company yesterday hoping to find out more details.