[Daily Mail by Sian Boyle] The HS2 line has come under fire from the Church of England – over concerns that human remains will be disturbed.

The Archbishop’s Council, one of the Church’s most powerful organisations, called for ‘ecclesiastical safeguards’ before the HS2 Bill is passed into law to prevent the digging up of graves to make way for the rail line.

The council, which is led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, is fiercely opposed to the line because human remains will not  be ‘treated in a decent and  reverent manner’.

It says it cannot back proposals for the £43 billion route unless MPs change legislation to give greater protection to the graves which would have to be exhumed. 

The Church is said to be keen to avoid a repeat of the excavation of St Pancras Station during the building of the Channel Tunnel rail link, when graves were dug up with JCBs.

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