By Richard Johnstone | 15 March 2013
The High Court today threw out nine of the ten objections to the planned High Speed 2 rail line, but ruled that the government consultation on compensation was unfair.
In his judicial review, Mr Justice Ouseley rejected challenges to the scheme brought by councils and other campaign groups. The project will build a new line from London to Birmingham, and then to Leeds and Manchester in a second stage.
Among the points dismissed were that ministers’ 2011 consultation on HS2 strategy and the phase one route was unlawful and that the government had failed to comply with the Strategic Environmental Assessment directives. The judge also ruled that it was lawful for the government to rule out upgrading the existing network, dismissing a challenge that ministers failed to properly consider alternatives.
However, the judge did agree that the consultation on compensation was unfair because not enough information had been provided on the various options. He found the government had not fully considered the consultation response on compensation from HS2 Action Alliance, which is campaigning against the line.
Transport minister Simon Burns said that the government would now re-run a consultation on compensation, but this would ‘not affect the HS2 construction timetable in any way’.
He added that the judge’s decisions, which rejected all seven objections brought by a group of 15 local authorities, was a ‘landmark victory’ for the plans.
‘The judge has categorically given the green light for the government to press ahead without delay in building a high-speed railway from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds,’ Burns said.
‘HS2 is the most significant infrastructure investment the UK has seen in modern times and a project the country cannot afford to do without. The judgment ensures that nothing now stands in the way of taking our plans to Parliament.’
However, HS2 Action Alliance director Hilary Wharf said the upholding of their complaint was ‘a huge victory for the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives are blighted by HS2’.
She added: ‘The government’s shabby attempt to railroad through an inadequate compensation scheme whilst ignoring the views of ordinary people have been judged to be unlawful. The government must now go back to the drawing board and rethink its approach to compensation.’
A consultation on the draft environmental statement for the construction and operation of the route is now expected in the spring, with the hybrid Bill to be published by the end of the year.
Construction is likely to start in 2017. Phase one to Birmingham is set to open in 2026, with the full Y-shaped route to open in 2032/33.
