OPPONENTS to the building of a new High Speed line have warned the transport secretary that they are gearing up for legal action. The HS2 Action Alliance said it was now considering going ahead with a judicial review of the government's decision to build the line, which will eventually link London with Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.
The threat of going to court has come not only from the HS2 Action Alliance but also from a separate grouping of 18 local authorities, known as 51m.
The HS2 Action Alliance served its letter on transport secretary Justine Greening yesterday, urging her to cancel the scheme.
The Alliance said: 'The letter also gives her notice that HS2AA may challenge her decision through judicial review.
'The grounds for the legal challenge are the failure of the Department for Transport 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 require a full strategic environmental assessment of any important infrastructure project and an assessment of all alternatives to be completed before any proposals are presented for public consultation. The Government has failed to do this with HS2.
'A separate letter of complaint regarding the UK Government’s non-compliance with the SEA Directive is also being sent today to the European Commission, inviting the Commission to investigate the actions of the UK Government on this matter.'
Meanwhile a spokesman for 51m, Buckingham County Council leader Martin Tett, added: "We are taking this stance with regret. We would far rather that the Government had listened to the people of this country who have decisively rejected this massively expensive project and instead opted for the far better, cheaper and more quickly delivered alternative put forward by 51m.
"Communities in the Midlands and the north of England risk being bypassed and left to decline by HS2. We should be investing in our existing rail and road infrastructure across the entire country to bring jobs and growth now when it is needed."
However, the transport secretary has described the HS2 project as 'the nuts and bolts of Britain'.
In a speech on 26 January, Ms Greening said: "Systematically going through the evidence and the alternatives, it was clear to me that the argument in favour of HS2 was compelling. A modern, fast, reliable railway that will transform connections between our cities, regions and the Continent, truly rebalance our economic geography, with a legacy of jobs, growth and opportunity for generations to come, and change the way we travel, just as the first railway did in the 19th century.
"But behind the headline statistics, HS2 is also about believing in better. Do we believe in just making do? Is that all we have to offer our future generations?"