Regents Park resident loses challenge to HS2 Euston approach

The owner of a Georgian Villa by Regents Park, NW1, has failed in a legal bid to stop HS2 Ltd from building a series of tunnels near Euston Station. The company is planning to build three tunnels coming out of the station running very close to a 119-year-old wall that borders the property of homeowner Hero Granger-Taylor. Her lawyers claim the “engineering challenge” of this plan is “insurmountable” and the “design is inherently dangerous”, according to a High Court ruling from Mr Justice Jay today. “The risk is of catastrophic collapse of the retaining wall, either during the tunnelling works or subsequently, which would, if it arose, cause at the very least serious damage to the claimant’s property,” the ruling said. In addition, an engineering report she commissioned found that a collapse could “put the personal safety of hundreds of rail travellers and residents at risk”. Her lawyers argued that, as well as threatening her property, the plan also threatened her human rights, and was causing her significant stress that was damaging her health. However, in his ruling, Jay J dismissed her challenge because the company has not yet committed itself to the “three tunnels” plan and won’t go ahead with it if it turns out to be dangerous. “I cannot conclude on all the evidence that the three tunnels design is so inherently flawed in the vicinity of the retaining wall that no engineering solution could be found to construct it safely,” he said. And if the company does conclude that the solution doesn’t work, it would change its plans because it “would not choose to act irresponsibly”, he said. “In my judgment… the three tunnels design would not impose a ‘disproportionate or excessive burden’ on the claimant. And… it strikes a fair balance between her private interests and the wider public interest in implementing an important infrastructure project in line with primary legislation,” he said. “This application for judicial review must be dismissed.” The Queen (Oao Hero Granger-Taylor) v  (1) High Speed Two (HS2) Limited (2) Secretary of State for Transport Christopher Jacobs (instructed by Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors) for the Claimant Timothy Mould QC and Jacqueline Lean (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Defendants