Burton Green residents march over high-speed rail link

Campaigners in Warwickshire against plans for a high-speed rail link have been taking part in a protest march.

A route between London and Birmingham with a future extension to northern England and Scotland was announced by the former Labour government in March.

But residents in Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Buckinghamshire have vowed to fight it.

Residents in Burton Green, near Kenilworth, marched along a disused railway line that runs from the town.

Groups united

They were accompanied by a band, organisers said.

The residents said that if the new railway line is built, it will hit the heart of their community.

The new Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government has committed to the scheme but not said what the route should be.

The residents in the various areas affected by the originally proposed route have now united under the name HS2 Action Alliance to work for "fair and just compensation".

Subject to public consultation, trains would run from Euston to Birmingham with interchange stations west of Paddington and near Birmingham airport.

The preferred route would pass through north-west London, the south-west of Aylesbury, then to the west of Buckingham and the east of Brackley and Banbury, before passing between Leamington Spa and Coventry and heading into the eastern side of Birmingham.

The proposal also includes a connection with the existing rail network near Lichfield, Staffordshire.