COTSWOLD MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has launched a report calling for the Government to re-think the current route of HS2.

The report, HS2 and Intermodality for the UK: How do we better link up the UK?” is proposing that the current route of HS2 is amended so that it connects directly with Heathrow and has a proper connection to the Channel Tunnel Rail Line, known as HS1.

HS2 is a government initiative l to connect the major cities of the Midlands and the north with London and beyond.

Mr Clifton-Brown, who is also co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary group for an Integrated Transport Strategy which he formed late last year to look at how the UK can develop a more integrated transport infrastructure with air, rail, road and freight, said: "HS2 will be our most expensive peacetime civil engineering project.

"The current weak business case would be hugely strengthened if the route were amended so that it properly links with Heathrow and connected with HS1.

"A more clearly integrated HS2 with Heathrow and the West Coast Mainline could have considerable benefits for those travelling from the West of the country including The Cotswolds.

"At the moment 80 per cent of these travellers going to Heathrow will travel by car because travel by rail is so long winded, having to go into Paddington and out again.

"An integrated rail and transport system could see a complete shift in the modes of transport with people opting to go by rail rather than car, which will obviously be a benefit to the country”.