A war of words over an ambitious plan to transform Windsor's rail service has put a former councillor at odds with the Royal Borough's leader.

Businessman George Bathurst, who lives in Trinity Place in the town and once represented the Castle Without ward on the borough, is the man behind the £125million Windsor Link railway plan to create a new ‘all in one' station to replace Windsor’s existing two Riverside and Central stations.

The project to link the two lines between Windsor to Waterloo and Slough to Paddington by building a new tunnel in Windsor is massive and includes a transformation of the town's river front.

It has been eight years in the planning but some have questioned if the benefits would outweigh the disruption to the town centre if it got the go-ahead from the rail companies.

At Tuesday's meeting of Windsor Town Forum held in the Guildhall, Royal Borough leader Cllr Simon Dudley left no doubt as to the council's attitude to its former member's plan.

He said: "We don't believe it is a viable scheme. It would be hugely disruptive to Windsor."

Asked from the public gallery if there was any communication between the council and Mr Bathurst he said: "There is no dialogue and there will be no dialogue because there is no support for the plans. I don't think we can make it any clearer."

The chairman of the Town Forum Cllr John Bowden echoed this view, saying said the plan would involve a major uprooting of the heritage area and that he had major concerns about some of the technical aspects involved.

But Mr Bathurst remained defiant this week, accusing the Royal Borough's leadership being too focussed on Maidenhead, leading to Windsor being neglected.

He said the town's rail service had fallen behind that of other towns of its size and status. His plan would substantially increase the speed of direct travel from Windsort to London.

He had harsh words for Cllr Dudley's claim that it was not viable, saying: "When did a banker become an expert on civil engineering?"