Environment protestors have handed over a petition calling for the route of a new link road through Cornwall in southwest England to be scrapped.

Members of the Cornwall for Environment Lobby Group say the proposed link - designed to save traffic problems on the busy A30 and A391 around St Austell - will damage the environment.

The group, accompanied by children who live along the proposed route, handed a petition to County Hall in Truro on Tuesday.

The road is being built to help ease the congestion around St Austell and the Eden Project, the popular tourist attraction.

Children joined in the protest against the route

The county council has two proposed options.

The lobby group says one follows the path of an existing road while the other cuts through five wildlife sites.

Members of the environmental group presented a petition to councillors and also handed over paintings and letters from local children.

A spokeswoman for Cornwall County Council said the scheme would be going to the executive on 3 July for further discussion.

Pulling crowds

The Eden Project was built to recreate the Earth's different climates.

Its huge domes, called biomes, are located in a former clay pit near St Austell.

Each biome houses thousands of different plant species and some animals.

But the volume of people visiting the biomes has caused massive queues and tailbacks on the area's roads.

The �86m project attracted 7,000 visitors to its official opening in March and has been consistently pulling in crowds ever since.