It emerged this week that two cases for Judicial Review are being brought against the high-speed rail proposals, one by a group of local authorities on the proposed route, the other by a group representing homeowners.
The first case Judicial Review, brought by the alliance of local authorities against the proposals 51m, allege fundamental failures by the government. This includes a failure to undertake an environmental impact assessment of the entire project nor the cumulative impacts of the first phase.
There are plans to demolish 200-500 homes in Camden but no idea how many north of London. The case also states that the scheme did not comply with the EU’s Environmental Impact Assessment Directive.
The second case for judicial review comes from an HS2 Action Alliance, who state that because of a flawed consultation process, homeowners risk not being properly compensated. The case will take a week to be heard, but if successful could set the scheme back years.
As a group who have been critical in the past, we hope if successful this Judicial Review will force the Department for Transport to come up with a more environmental and economic way of increasing capacity, and abandon this silly need for speed between Birmingham and London.
