A57 Link Roads Judicial Review – UPDATE

20 November 2023

CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire are disappointed that the judge found against us in her verdict on one of our two grounds against the Secretary of State for Transport, however we accept the verdict and following legal advice the board have decided not to appeal it. The progress of our other ground, which is still live, now depends on the appeal hearing of another similar case (by Dr Andrew Boswell). It is the outcome of that hearing that will determine the next steps in our case. We expect to know more in the first quarter of 2024.

26 October 2023

Mrs Justice Thornton heard our claim at the High Court on October 3rd and 4^th of October

First of all, our legal team led by David Wolfe, Kings Counsel, made our case for our Ground 2 on the Green Belt. He laid out strong persuasive arguments for why alternatives needed a proper assessment in this case in order for the Secretary of State to be able to lawfully consent a scheme that would harm the Green Belt. We will have a judgement on this ground in a few weeks’ time.

The process for Ground 1 on climate emissions is more complicated. Ground 1 was adjourned (neither heard nor dismissed) as it is similar to the ground used in the Boswell case. Having had his claim dismissed, Andrew Boswell sought – and has now received – permission for a hearing of his claim before the Court of Appeal. Having been given permission for his appeal to be heard, we will now have to await the outcome of that (which could be several months from now) before we know where we stand procedurally. Essentially, we are in limbo until we hear the verdict of Andrew’s hearing at the Court of Appeal.

Once again many thanks for your support. You can donate towards our legal costs here – Stop Mottram Bypass wrecking climate and Green Belt (crowdjustice.com)

27 March 2023

CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire

Press Release

A57 Link Roads Judicial Review – Update 

Having filed the application for a judicial review in December, the charity has been expecting the ‘permission’ order telling us whether we had permission to proceed to a hearing or not. However we were informed today on the 20^th of March that the court has instead ordered that the permission decision be ‘rolled-up’ with a substantive hearing. This means that instead of permission being decided on paper, the charity will have the benefit of making full oral argument before a judge at a substantive two day hearing.

 The reason for this is that the judge has decided that as there is overlap with the grounds in the cases that Dr Andrew Boswell is currently seeking judicial review of (in Norfolk), and has therefore deemed it appropriate to wait to see what happens in that case. The judge has ordered that we will have the opportunity to adapt our argument in light of the ruling in that case. This is good news for the charity – it essentially means the permission stage is bypassed and that we will also have the advantage of having seen how Boswell goes and potentially adapting our argument in light of that.

The Boswell hearing is mid-May so we are unlikely to be listed for a hearing before September 2023.

You can support our campaign by donating at https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-mottram-bypas

You can read more about this campaign (and the rest of our campaigning work) on our website at www.cprepdsy.org.uk