Perry Barr flyover demolition injunction denied
Campaigners have lost their appeal to halt the city council’s plan to demolish the A34 Perry Barr flyover after taking court action.
Members of the A34 Safety Action Group had applied to the High Court for an injunction stopping the council from beginning the demolition, and calling for a judicial review of the plans.
The campaigners have now received a response from Mrs Justice Geraldine Andrews DBE, which states the application for an injunction is refused.
Although the court is still to decide on the question of judicial review, campaigners are pessimistic about their chances and believe this might be the end of the line of their legal challenge.
The Safety Action Group has long opposed the decision to bring down the flyover, and helped to organise a 15,000-signature petition against the plans last year.
In its application to the court, the group had alleged no road safety audits were completed prior to the decision being passed, no ‘value for money’ analysis was completed prior to the decision being passed and there was a lack of a meaningful consultation, with the group alleging that several areas were excluded from the consultation process.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not clear on what air pollution will be following the work, and there was a failure to consider adverse impacts on members of the BAME community including in consequence of pollution displacement.
In her response, Dame Andrews ruled the first two points are “factually mistaken”, and that the council did carry out a proper consultation process in relation to the third point.
In relation to the final point she said “the Public Sector Equality Duty was carried out” and “judicial review is not available as a means of airing disagreement with the results of the EIA”.
She added: “In the current climate it is also very likely that such work may be disrupted or delayed in any event.”
A34 member Owen O’Neill said: “Our inference from the refusal letter is that it looks like they are probably likely to refuse judicial review as well.
“This could well be the end of the road. It’s incredibly disappointing.
“It’s going to be very difficult for us to do anything else if it’s all a done deal and going to be happening.
“We have done the best we can.”
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “We have gone through the full range of council processes and related consultation and scrutiny to reach the decision on this project – a scheme that is absolutely critical if we are to realise the full potential of the regeneration of Perry Barr, which is seeing in excess of £500million being invested into one of the most deprived areas of our city.
“We consider the decision to progress the scheme is sound and will robustly defend it in the event of a legal challenge, but given the letter of intent to take legal action on this matter, it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this stage.”
The letter from the court stated the flyover demolition was scheduled to commence on April 29, but the council spokesperson said work was not due to start until later this year.
A judicial review is a process under which executive or legislative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. If a judicial review is successful then the original decision is usually dismissed and has to be taken again.
