A PROTEST group has been launched as fears grow over the future of an old railway track which has been earmarked for a high-speed commuter bus scheme.

The Bus Rapid Transport Action Group had distributed more than 900 leaflets to homes in the area ahead of its first public meeting, taking place at Gosport today.

Plans to build a light railway between Fareham and Gosport were ditched when Whitehall refused to foot the bill.

Now an alternative £20m rapidtransit bus scheme is being considered.

Under the plan, the old railway from Redlands Lane, Fareham, to Tichborne Way, Gosport, would be turned into a high-speed link with regular bus stops along the way. It would avoid congestion on the A32.

The county has applied for a £20m government grant to pay for the project. But residents living near the line fear that, in the meantime, their area could be blighted and wildlife destroyed.

An action group spokesman said that the county council had already pressed ahead with clearing the old railway line without the funding being in place.

He said badgers, bats, deer, butterflies, moths, flora and fauna had been “adversely affected” and the area “deprived of its green corridor”.

Hampshire County Council’s executive member for the environment, Mel Kendal, said: “We are fully aware that consideration of wildlife is important and we intend to ensure that, while developing the bus rapid transit scheme, we will remain sympathetic to this issue and do all we can to carry out work sensitively.”

■ The public meeting is at Jacobs Well Church Hall in Leighton Road, Gosport. It starts at 3.30pm.