HS2 campaigners take challenge to High Court (From Herald Series)
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HS2 campaigners take challenge to High Court
9:30am Tuesday 4th December 2012 in News
CAMPAIGNERS fighting Government proposals to build a high-speed rail link that would cut through Oxfordshire have taken their case to the High Court.
The London-Birmingham link would cut across north-east Oxfordshire, near Finmere, close to the Northamptonshire border.
Five separate legal challenges to the Government’s £33bn HS2 project will be heard this week in the High Court, starting yesterday. The series of hearings will look at allegations the Government failed to consult properly and based its approval for the line on inadequate environmental information.
Conservative-controlled Cherwell District Council is among 18 local authorities that form the 51M group to challenge the plans.
Cherwell’s lead member for planning Michael Gibbard said: “Cherwell was one of the first authorities to oppose this colossal white elephant. It is unfortunate we have had to take this step, but we maintain that this scheme is fundamentally flawed.”
Mark Barton, of pressure group Village of Oxfordshire Opposed to HS2, which backs 51M’s action, said: “We want to have the consultation re-done so it conforms with the law, and we get proper proposals, a proper environmental impact assessment and proper consideration to all routes.”
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “While it would not be appropriate to comment on the specific claims, the Government is confident that the decisions on HS2 have been taken lawfully and fairly and it is vigorously defending these legal challenges.”
A decision is expected in January.
Comments(10)
Andrew:Oxford
says...
1:03pm Tue 4 Dec 12
Could save an absolute fortune simply by merging 18 HR/Payroll, 18 Finance and 18 Refuse collection departments. Nothing that would affect the delivery of services at the customer facing level - just the cost of providing them.
It'll be great when HS2 is open, hopefully the bit outside of the London Banker, Lawyer & Accountant territory will progress more smoothly.
Pavinder Msvarensy
says...
4:08pm Tue 4 Dec 12
EMBOX1
says...
4:37pm Tue 4 Dec 12
I am a massive railway fan - but HS2 has been shown to be a white elephant in waiting. We are FAR better using the money to upgrade and re-open many branchlines to help relieve mainline traffic.
HS2 is bonkers and a vanity project for politician. Just remember it is you and I who will be paying for this, for decades to come....as if we weren't already in enough debt!
Andrew:Oxford
says...
6:39pm Tue 4 Dec 12
EMBOX1 wrote:White elephant is good.
No, I think people want a railway with a proper commercially viable business plan.
I am a massive railway fan - but HS2 has been shown to be a white elephant in waiting. We are FAR better using the money to upgrade and re-open many branchlines to help relieve mainline traffic.
HS2 is bonkers and a vanity project for politician. Just remember it is you and I who will be paying for this, for decades to come....as if we weren't already in enough debt!
Statistics show that the vast majority of projects that are referred to by protestors as "white elephant" are successful.
If you're going to re-open all these branch-lines - you're going to need new core high-speed routes to alleviate overcrowding on the mainlines.
Pavinder Msvarensy
says...
6:52pm Tue 4 Dec 12
kingsnewclothes
says...
1:47pm Wed 5 Dec 12
Leaving aside the fact that Japan is roughly 3 times the size of England I wouldn't have said that "Japan's got high speed rail and it's progress" is a killer argument.
HS2 will cost the best part of £ 40 billion and if you bring scotland into the equation the cost will be a lot more than that.
kingsnewclothes
says...
1:49pm Wed 5 Dec 12
xjohnx wrote:The legal costs incurred by those nasty nimbys are but a tiny fraction of the overall bill if the scheme goes ahead.
All those nimbys just bumping up the tax bills.
No wonder the government has been driven to legislate to cut the planning process short.
Net result of using planning processes just to make development too expensive, is that we have lost some of our freedom.
This country is dropping further behind in the world all the time due to continued improper use of the law.
Pavinder Msvarensy
says...
8:11pm Wed 5 Dec 12
G law, the better.
Andrew:Oxford
says...
10:36am Sun 9 Dec 12
kingsnewclothes wrote:But we aren't just England KNC, we are part of Europe.
Nice one Pavinder. The recent stories have been about Japanese maglev, HS2 would not use maglev.
Leaving aside the fact that Japan is roughly 3 times the size of England I wouldn't have said that "Japan's got high speed rail and it's progress" is a killer argument.
HS2 will cost the best part of £ 40 billion and if you bring scotland into the equation the cost will be a lot more than that.
Europe is bigger than Japan...
xjohnx says...
10:55am Tue 4 Dec 12
No wonder the government has been driven to legislate to cut the planning process short.
Net result of using planning processes just to make development too expensive, is that we have lost some of our freedom.
This country is dropping further behind in the world all the time due to continued improper use of the law.