The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal from anti-HS2 campaigners.
All three legal challenges – by the HS2 Action Alliance, the 51M group of local authorities and Heathrow Hub Ltd – were turned down on the grounds that the UK government can adjust the legislation as it proceeds, in order to accommodate the concerns over environmental impact.
Commenting on the decision, Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council, said it had vindicated his administration's decision to engage with HS2 which had resulted in a commitment to tunnel the line under Ealing borough.
But Hillingdon Council leader Ray Puddifoot, speaking just after the judgement was handed down, vowed to fight on. He said councils up and down the line will now consider a new judicial review based on the incomplete information they believe the Government supplied in the hybrid bill.
That case will be based upon the vast amounts of land and buildings affected by safeguarding measures which were not even mentioned in the draft environmental impact statement of the bill. Hillingdon has already joined forces with the HS2 Action Alliance (HS2AA) and expects others to follow suit.
The review request was lodged last year but held in abeyance until today's judgement. And Mr Puddifoot said the HS2AA was also considering an approach to the European Commission – the civil service of the EU – on the grounds that the UK government is not implementing European directives, such as those on environmental issues, but instead allowing Parliament to find its own way, something 'not in the spirit' of the Europe-UK relationship, said Mr Puddifoot.
"Since we statrted this, the Governmet has always said: 'We can change anything during the hybrid bill'," said Mr Puddifoot, who said the attitude from Whitehall seemed to be that if opponents to HS2 were not happy with the process, they could stop it through the Parliamentary process or at the ballot box.
"The whole legal process (now) is to keep it up in the air and make it a live issue at the next general election," he said.
The court echoed the Government's view in its judgement, handed down at 9.45am today (Wednesday). It said the decision to press ahead with HS2 did not run contrary to European environmental law, which is intended to protect the environment before major decisions on projects such as this are made.
"Until Parliament has reached its decision, the merits of all aspects of the HS2 project remain open to debate," it read.
Dedicated HS2 campaigners said "we will keep fighting it" as the judgment was given this morning.
