HUNDREDS of people have signed a petition calling for the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway plans to be scrapped.

The 'Scrap the Expressway' campaign was launched by Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats this week.

The party's Oxford West and Abingdon candidate Layla Moran called for a full public consultation into the plans, which would see a major new road built between the two cities, which would cut through the county's countryside.

It comes days after the Conservatives said the plans would be 'reviewed as a priority' if the Tories gain power in the upcoming general election.

READ AGAIN: Tories make general election promise to review expressway

Ms Moran said the announcement that the plans would be reviewed, made by transport secretary Grant Shapps, shows the Tories are 'finally aware of how unpopular their Expressway plans are with our community'.

She said: “The disastrous Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, proposed by the Conservatives, will blight our landscape, threaten our environment and harm biodiversity.

"We need to invest in sustainable transport, not build eight-lane motorways.

“The Conservatives have realised just how unpopular their Expressway plans are, and have promised a ‘review'. Well, I and the Liberal Democrats want to stop the Expressway altogether.

“We don't need a pointless Government review, and if the Tories continue with the plans a proper public consultation is needed, with the option to scrap the scheme."

She said more than 200 people signed the petition, on the Oxfordshire Lib Dems website, within 90 minutes of it launching.