A CONTROVERSIAL plan to widen a 50-mile stretch of the M6 to up to 10 lanes is expected to be revealed within days.

Transport chiefs are meeting in Manchester this week to discuss a possible £1.5bn scheme to widen the motorway between the midlands and junction 20, Warrington.

The Midlands to Manchester (Midman) Steering Group has spent nearly two years studying ways of relieving traffic congestion on the M6.

The 50-mile stretch from junction 11 to junction 20 is claimed to be the busiest in the country, carrying up to 90,000 vehicles an hour in some parts.

Government departments, highways officials in the west midlands and the north west, the Highways Agency, the North West Regional Assembly and the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority have all been involved in discussions.

No details of the study have yet been made public, but experts predict recommendations to widen the M6 through Staffordshire and Cheshire to at least eight lanes, with a provision to expand to 10. This would take at least 1,130 acres of land in Cheshire alone.

A Highways Agency spokesman confirmed that a meeting had been organised for this week and said proposals would then go before the regional planning body.

But according to Friends of the Earth, which was consulted as part of the study, not enough consideration was given to alternative methods of transport to relieve congestion.

Irreversible damage

Frank Kennedy, regional campaign co-ordinator for the group, said the proposals would cause irreversible damage if they are given the go-ahead.

''A lot of the land that would be used is prime farm land, and once we have covered it with millions of tonnes of tarmac it would just become waste land,'' he said.

''We would oppose any plans to extend the motorway and ask a number of questions about air quality and particularly about the alternatives that we believe have been sadly ignored.

''Our impression is that the study has been biased in favour of road-based solutions. But every new road that's built adds to the traffic and we need to make the polluters pay.

''We should be encouraging people to find methods of transport other than cars and to make more use of the internet to do business.

''The biggest issue that should have been discussed is alternatives to road travel - such as rail - but this seems to have been ignored.''

Earlier plans to widen the M6 through Cheshire were shelved when environment groups protested and government funding was withdrawn.

A report on the proposal, which included lighting the carriageway along its entire length, admitted that widening the route would cause environmental harm and added noise pollution for communities living nearby.

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