{"id":521511,"date":"2025-05-28T12:45:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=521511"},"modified":"2025-05-28T12:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:30:21","slug":"high-court-denies-judicial-review-of-hs2-bromford-tunnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/civils\/hs2\/high-court-denies-judicial-review-of-hs2-bromford-tunnel-28-05-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"High court denies judicial review of HS2 Bromford Tunnel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The High Court has rejected a bid for a judicial review over HS2\u2019s extension of the Bromford Tunnel in the West Midlands.<\/span><\/p>\n

North Warwickshire Borough Council (NWBC) had launched a legal challenge against a decision last year by transport and levelling-up secretaries to overrule its rejection of an application by HS2.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the council\u2019s case has been dismissed by Mr Justice Dove, sitting at London\u2019s High Court.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tunnel is being built by the Balfour Beatty Vinci joint venture under a contract awarded in April 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

HS2<\/span><\/a> had applied in 2020 to double the length of the Bromford Tunnel, as part of a spur line from Water Orton in Warwickshire to Curzon Street in Birmingham.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rail body had conceded that the proposed changes would likely have significant effects, and was told that a formal environmental assessment was required.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite this, it submitted that a full planning process was not required.<\/span><\/p>\n

This led NWBC to refuse to consider the application.<\/span><\/p>\n

An appeal by <\/span>HS2<\/span><\/a> to a planning inspector prompted an inquiry, which resulted in the inspector agreeing with NWBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the final decision rested with the transport and levelling-up ministers in the previous Conservative government,<\/span> who overruled the inspector in May 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

NWBC took the case to the High Court to challenge the decision on the grounds it was \u201clegally flawed\u201d, but has lost its case.<\/span><\/p>\n

The council had claimed the case created \u201ca carte blanche to substitute scheduled works with tunnels in a manner which could not have been envisaged by parliament\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tunnel extension project \u201ccould not have every detail identified and fixed in advance, but, bearing in mind its scale and nature, it was inevitable that there would need to be some flexibility as to its final form\u201d, Mr Justice Dove said in his judgment last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am unable to support any of the grounds upon which this application has been brought, and the claimant\u2019s claim must be dismissed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The High Court has rejected a bid for a judicial review over HS2\u2019s extension of the Bromford Tunnel in the West Midlands. North Warwickshire Borough Council (NWBC) had launched a legal challenge against a decision last year by transport and levelling-up secretaries to overrule its rejection of an application by HS2. However, the council\u2019s case …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155153,"featured_media":451006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[549,39314,578],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civils","category-hs2","category-legal"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh court denies judicial review of HS2 Bromford Tunnel | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The High Court has rejected a bid for a judicial review over HS2\u2019s extension of the Bromford Tunnel in the West Midlands. 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