A date has been set for an initial hearing on the future of the A66 legal challenge to take place on the 23rd of October when a judge will decide if the Judicial review can progress to the full judicial review stage or be refused allowing work to start on the upgrade.
This hearing will take place at the High Court in London and could see the legal challenge potential dismissed or allowed to progress and half and potentially end the plans by National Highways to upgrade the A66.
Transport Action Network lodged the legal challenge against the granting of a development consent order for the scheme to upgrade the A66 between Penrith and Scotchcorner including the new Kemplay Roundabout underpass and works on junction 40.
Transport Action Network said it believed the Secretary of State’s decision was flawed.
The group claims the £1.5 billion A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project represents very poor value for money as had also been raised by the Department for Transport after costs increased ahead of the Secretary of State granting the development consent order.
Chris Todd, Transport Action Network founder and director, said:
“The £1.5 billion A66 Northern Trans-Pennine represents very poor value for money and will cause great harm to important landscapes and wildlife. At a time when we are experiencing more flooding due to climate change, it will drive up carbon emissions by 2.7 million tonnes. By encouraging more HGVs it will also make the existing parts of the A66 that are already dualled more dangerous.
“We believe the Secretary of State has not considered these issues properly, gambling away £1.5bn of taxpayers’ money in the process. National Highways should instead be implementing cheaper and quicker safety measures on this road, for a fraction of the cost and without harming the environment or taking us backwards on climate.”
In a statementNational Highways said:
“At this stage it is too early to say how much of an impact the legal challenge will have on our programme and start of work.”
“We are disappointed about the legal challenge as we believe our proposals will provide much needed improved safety and reliability for drivers and businesses that use this vitally important route every day, while also delivering a boost to the regional economy. “
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