TRANSPORT for Leigh says a community group’s objections to the Lowton HS2 rail link station are ‘contradictory’.

Lowton East Neighbourhood Development Fund (LENDF) had raised several concerns about the proposed rail link and fears the increase in traffic will outweigh the benefits of putting Leigh on the rail map.

But Transport for Leigh leader Neil Prescott claims the views do not truly represent the residents whom the proposal concerns.

He said: “Our survey, which shows that more than 70 per cent of people are in favour of this, has come from 420 people not just from Leigh and Lowton but from the north west, the UK, Canada, the US and even Malaysia.

“People want to come and visit their relatives but if they’re flying in to Manchester Airport, how do they then get to Leigh? We don’t think that LENDF gives a true picture and only represents a small group of people.

“They support the distribution of a questionnaire as agreed with us and are therefore contradicting themselves and admitting they do not know what the residents of Leigh and Lowton want.”

LENDF fears that building the station in Lowton will attract more traffic to an already gridlocked area and says plans to create a new link road will destroy four farms, making them unworkable and leaving them open to development.

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