'Lobby your MP over trolleybus' - Leeds campaigners in rallying cry

'Contact your MP and help build pressure to save Leeds' threatened trolleybus scheme'. That was the message from campaigners fighting to stop the government from axing the £250 million trolleybus network planned for the city. An online petition with hundreds of signatures has been collected via campaigning website 38 Degrees. The petition calls on Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Transport Minister Philip Hammond commit funding to the scheme, which is currently stalled due to the government's spending review. A spokesperson for the campaign urged Leeds residents to lobby their MPs ahead of next week's spending review announcement. He said: "We need to make sure that the ministers are hearing from local MPs as well. If we work together, we can make sure every single MP in Leeds is taking up the Trolleybus issue in the next two weeks. This could help tip the balance the right way. We will make sure that the ministers in charge are feeling the pressure from all angles. "It only takes about two minutes to send your local MP a personal message from the 38 Degrees website. You just need to enter your postcode to find your MP and see some suggestions for things to say." Click here to contact your MP. Campaigners to present petition on Friday Organisers are looking to hand the petition in to the Department for Transport on Friday and are calling on supporters to join them. The Labour government earlier this year granted Programme Entry Approval to the NGT Trolleybus scheme and allocated funding for the North Route to Bodington, the South Route to Stourton and a city centre link between these routes. In addition the government also gave approval to a proposed extension of the North Route to serve the Holt Park area. The government did not fund the East Route to St James's Hospital or the full city centre loop. Work is currently under way to investigate alternative means of funding these sections of the Leeds trolleybus network. Mulholland asks for clarification Leeds North West Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland has written to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Regional and Local Transport) Norman Baker to clarify the future of the scheme. In response to Mulholland's letter, Baker said that "...the scheme received Programme Entry approval under the previous administration in March with an expected Department for Transport contribution of £235 million. "However all schemes at that stage are now on hold, at least until the outcome of Spending Review is known on 20 October. Until then we cannot give any guarantee of funding for this or any other local authority scheme not yet in construction. "I would hope to be in a position as soon as possible after 20 October to offer some greater clarity on which schemes we will be able to support and will certainly bear your comments in mind when considering the difficult decisions ahead." Mulholland told Guardian Leeds: "Public transport in Leeds is massively underfunded and the city desperately needs investment to improve its infrastructure. "I welcome the proposals for a New Generation Transport trolleybus scheme and I hope that funding decisions allow it to go ahead." Do you think the Leeds trolleybus scheme will survive government cuts? Have your say in the comments section below.