The Treasury has received hundreds of demands to scrap a planned high speed rail link between London and Birmingham, after it asked the public to suggest ways of saving money.

More than 500 people urged Ministers to cancel the £20 billion project to run trains at 225mph between the two cities.

The demands were made on a website set up by the Treasury to ask voters how the Government should cut spending and reduce Britain’s budget deficit.

Ministers will now consider the responses to see which ones should be included in a spending review, to be published by George Osborne, the Chancellor, in late October.

The Conservatives first announced plans for a new high speed rail network during their party conference in Birmingham, in 2008.

But critics of the scheme say it is unaffordable at a time when the economy is fragile and Ministers are looking for ways to reduce Britain’s budget deficit.

It has provoked opposition in areas which will be affected by the new line, including parts of Warwickshire and Staffordshire was well as the Chilterns.

The Treasury has received 44,000 responses after it launched a website called “Spending Challenge” to ask people for money-saving ideas and 506 of these, around one in 80, were a call for the planned high speed rail line to be scrapped.

Many people complained that getting to London slightly faster should not be a priority.

One said: “It must be possible to further improve the existing rail network to the benefit of a very large number of people for a fraction of the cost and to see the benefits much sooner. Use the money saved to reduce cuts in the NHS and schools.”

Another described high speed rail as “a waste of money that will be akin to forcing a herd of White Elephants into a cluster of Financial Black Holes.”

Many people complained that the service would only benefit people living in London or Birmingham, and had few advantages for people living in places such as Rugby or Coventry.

One said: “It will transport mainly ‘fat-cats’ (at high speed admittedly) from London to Birmingham and vice versa, but be totally useless for anyone living more than a few miles from either.”

Most of the comments on the site were left anonymously. Other proposals included scrapping Trident and reforming public sector pensions.

A report by consultants Ernst & Young in December put the cost of building a high speed rail line from London to Birmingham at £19.3 billion.

However, the Government is considering changing the original proposals to add a direct link with Heathrow Airport and with Channel Tunnel services to the Continent, which is likely to push the total cost up.

Ministers also want to extend the line to Manchester and Scotland in later phases.