The Church of England asked for bishops to have powers to oversee the removal and reburial of bodies in graves along the planned HS2 rail line. 30,000+ graves must be exhumed along the high-speed route. Church officials say the Bill paving the way for the line does not provide for those remains to be treated in a ‘decent and reverent’ way and the Bill should not pass without changes. The Archbishops' Council made its criticisms in a petition to Parliament, attacking the Bill for not striking a proportionate balance between the rights of the Church of England to manifest its religion and the general needs of the community that are to be met by the works on HS2. The petition says that by law, human remains interred in consecrated land are under the protection of the Church. Because the bill overrides that protection, the petition says other ecclesiastical safeguards should be provided for in its place.