That didn’t take long. Are these challengers aware the Heathrow decision was about a legal technicality, with the judges specifically saying they weren’t trying to halt the project?
A legal challenge against the construction of HS2 is to be launched by broadcaster and naturalist Chris Packham over claims the project is incompatible with the government’s net-zero carbon emissions target, days after the High Court ruled against Heathrow expansion, Construction News reports.
The move comes as Heathrow Airport warned that the government’s decision not to appeal its legal defeat last week – over a failure to comply with planning policy, as it did not take into account terms included in the Paris Agreement on climate change – could mean the scrapping of housing and roads plans.
Law firm Leigh Day announced on Monday that it has sent a preliminary legal letter on behalf of Packham on the basis that the decision to give the go-ahead to HS2 was unlawful because the Oakervee Review process, which helped give it the green light, did not take into account the full environmental costs of the project.
The firm plans to argue that HS2 will help airport expansion across the UK if it is built, should court proceedings be allowed.
Leigh Day solicitor Tom Short said: “[Packham] argues that the flawed process of the review means that environmental impacts relevant to the decision whether to proceed have not been properly assessed. In a time of unprecedented ecological catastrophe, he is clear that the law and moral logic require the government to think again.”
Heathrow Airport, however, said this week that without an appeal to last week’s High Court decision, there will be no more airport expansion anywhere in the UK.
Full report here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
March 3, 2020 at 06:33AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 