Friends of the Earth
Action Briefing April /May 1999
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Birmingham Friends of the Earth Action Briefing April /May 1999 |
On March 23rd four people from the Midlands made the familiar journey down to the High Court in London. The reason: a date with the master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Wolff, in court 71 at 10.00am. The three judges in the appeal of the case between The Alliance Against the BNRR and MEL had reached their decision. Hopes were high that we at last would have seen justice delivered. The lack of openness in this battle has concerned more and more people as time has passed. The issues at stake today were the legality with which John Prescott made his decision. If a favourable decision were made the compulsory orders would be quashed and the road defeated. This is the classic David and Goliath. In the brown and grey corner we have the Government, the vested interests of business, politicians from the North West and Scotland who regard the West Midlands as block to their trade with the continent, the developers who can't wait to see green fields ripe for development along this new development corridor, gallons of cash in terms of objective 2 status for areas such as down at heel Sutton Coldfield and the bankers who support MEL against in the green corner local people with nothing more to lose than their homes, their quality of life and 27 miles of England's green belt.
So with baited breath we rose, the three judges entered, we bowed and sat down. The case was announced and Lord Justice Wolff said The appeal is dismissed. How many others had heard those same words down the centuries as England delivers its justice in four short words. We were then to hear learned people argue over costs, discuss the merits of the concession agreement and ask for leave to appeal to the House of Lords. The results of this were that MEL could claim some but not all of their costs from the Alliance and that if the Alliance sought to take this case to the House of Lords they should appeal in that place.
There are some interesting facets within the judgement in that John Prescott deliberately meant to give a false impression when writing to Mike O'Brien and other MP's on the line of the road. On another issue the judges said that it was the objectors fault for not asking to see the concession agreement during the public inquiry. The inference being that if it was such an issue we would have made the point at the public inquiry not after the decision had been made. Well considering that not even the inspector at the public inquiry was allowed to see the concession agreement and that we were constantly told that it was commercially confidential. I'm not sure what other methods we could have used to secure publication of a commercially confidential document. The judges infer that we should have engaged expert legal opinion at the time of the inquiry!! Well considering that this is and will be the only such road in this country to come before an inspector we were placed in the position of breaking new ground with every step as too surely would have expert legal opinion.
The campaign will carry on. The Alliance meet in April to plan their next strategy. The camp at The Spinney, Turf Pits Lane, Canwell, still needs support in any way you can. Phone 07970 301978 for more info.