CONTROVERSIAL plans for a giant freight link through Bucks are now effectively 'dead', MP Dominic Grieve claimed yesterday.

Mr Grieve spoke out after Central Railway, the company behind the scheme, issued a shock plea to Deputy PM John Prescott for support.

The firm's chairman, Andrew Gritten, wrote to Mr Prescott saying: "Unless actively supported now, Central Railway is in danger of never becoming a reality".

Campaigners, who have organised mass protest against the plans, say the letter is a last ditch attempt to stop the project "going down the drain."

Mr Grieve, Tory MP for Beaconsfield, backed them by saying he saw this as the last breath for Central Railway's proposal.

He added: "The current application is dead.

"While the idea behind the scheme is undoubtedly a good one, the proposal is completely unworkable."

The £5 billion scheme which would take freight from Liverpool to Lille has caused huge concern across the county from homeowners who live near the railway tracks.

Central Railway has called on John Prescott to sanction a special bill, called a hybrid bill, in an attempt to avoid the public inquiry stage of the planning process.

Peter Babler, chairman of the Central Railway Action Group who are campaigning against the scheme, said that this new move signalled the death knell for the scheme.

He added: "This is obviously a last ditch attempt by the company to stop its project going down the drain."

A spokesman for Central Railway said: "We are keen to have a speedy resolution to this situation and we see the alternative of a hybrid bill as the best way to reach this resolution and end the uncertainty."