HS2 campaigners may seek judicial review

PROTESTORS campaigning against the planned high-speed rail link between Birmingham and London have sent the Government a formal letter warning they will take legal action unless it is stopped.

The HS2 Action Alliance said in the letter to Transport Secretary Justine Greening that it would consider seeking a judicial review.

The group said it was concerned about the project’s environmental impact.
The £33bn high-speed rail line crossing from London and Birmingham and beyond was given the go-ahead last month. Work is due to start on the phase one stretch between the capital and Birmingham in 2016 and should be complete in 2026.

Thomas Crane, who represents the HS2 Action Alliance, said: “We are still hopeful that Justine Greening will see sense and halt a project which offers such limited benefit for so much environmental damage.”

Its argument for a judicial review is that the Department for Transport failed to comply with “the legally binding requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Regulations 2004 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010”.

The SEA regulations included the need for “full strategic environment assessment” and “an assessment of all alternatives to be completed” before the proposals were put forward for public consultation, it claims.

The challenge is supported by more than 70 local groups and residents’ associations, four wildlife trusts and other countryside organisations.

But HS2 has been widely welcomed by business leaders in Birmingham and cities further north who argue that fast train links of this sort will help to re-balance the UK economy away from its South East bias.