星空传媒

The government is seeking to have five separate legal challenges to its plans for a 拢32bn high speed rail line to Birmingham bundled together and heard in the High Court in October, 星空传媒 has learnt.

The move comes as the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed it would purchase a key regeneration site near Euston station in a bid to house some of the 500 residents of a nearby estate who will lose their homes to High Speed 2 (HS2), which was approved by the government in January.

Five separate requests for judicial reviews have been lodged by organisations opposed to the line and the Department for Transport has confirmed that it has now responded to the applications and is seeking to have them all heard together in the High Court in October.

One of the judicial review requests has come from 51M, a group of 18 largely rural councils, which oppose the project on five grounds which, they claim, meant the decision to approve the project was flawed, leading to 鈥渕ajor and serious errors of law鈥�.

The 51M application cites a 鈥渇undamentally flawed鈥� consultation on the route of the scheme; failure to provide a sound economic case; as well as what it said was an 鈥渋rrational鈥� decision to ignore the concerns of Transport for London that the Euston underground station at the HS2 terminus would not cope with expected passenger flows.

This group also includes the London Borough of Camden, which has