A high court judge has ruled against a call to halt the eviction of protesters from a tunnel beside Euston Square on grounds of safety.
Seven people are currently occupying the tunnel, in order to raise awareness both of the climate emergency, and the damage they say is being done by HS2.
Mrs Justice Steyn rejected the claim by Dr Larch Maxey, the protester who brought the case, that the eviction by HS2’s contractors High Court Enforcement was not being handled safely and in compliance with human rights obligations.
It emerged during the hearing that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had twice asked HS2 contractors to stop evicting climate activists from a tunnel in central London because of its concerns about the way it was being carried out. The evictions had been halted at its request, and then restarted.
In her judgment, Steyn described the tunnel as “poorly constructed and liable to collapse”.
She rejected the protesters’ various concerns and accepted the responses and reassurances provided by HS2 in response to concerns raised by the protesters’ tunnel expert Peter Faulding that High Court Enforcement lacked specialist experience and equipment to carry out the eviction. She also rejected concerns about a lack of planning for the eviction and accepted HS2’s evidence that it had drawn up detailed risk assessments before embarking on the tunnel eviction.
She rejected requests from the tunnellers that HS2 should provide them with sufficient food and water, saying in her judgment: “They are not detained or stuck in the tunnel; they are choosing to remain there as trespassers.”
She also rejected a request for Faulding to be granted access to the tunnel site to conduct a safety assessment.
HS2’s counsel Saira Sheikh QC told the court the HSE was satisfied, and that “they keep visiting the site and have raised no concerns whatsoever with our work”, but the HSE’s counsel Alistair Mills put forward different evidence.
Mills said the HSE had insisted on improvements at the eviction site and was “prepared to take further action as necessary”. He added: “It [the HSE] has required work to stop on two occasions backed up by the threat of enforcement. Work did indeed stop.” Mills later clarified that quote and said: “The word ‘threat’ was not used.”
Further explaining the HSE’s concerns, Mills said: “They felt they had not seen a risk assessment and method statements and a rescue plan regarding how they were going to undertake the works. The National Eviction Team [the team employed by High Court Enforcement to carry out the eviction] said they were planning to do work that night. HSE said it was necessary to have suitable emergency rescue arrangements. HSE requested that they stopped the work that had been planned for the night to break through from their shaft to the protesters’ shaft. HSE said you can either stop voluntarily or they would serve a prohibition notice.
“High Court Enforcement then appointed a company called Mines Rescue to be on the eviction site the whole time the tunnel eviction work is under way.”
After the high court ruling, an HS2 spokesperson said: “The decision of the court today is utterly unambiguous: that HS2 Ltd is carrying out the eviction correctly and that the illegal trespassers are breaking the law and should remove themselves from the tunnel immediately. We urge Dr Maxey to comply with the order as soon as possible – for his safety and the safety of the other activists and the HS2 and emergency personnel tasked with removing the illegal trespassers.”
HS2 has been awarded full costs and Maxey has been ordered to pay them. A spokesperson for the tunnel protesters condemned HS2 for seeking costs against Maxey. They said: “They are attempting to financially ruin Dr Larch Maxey, a conscientious and altruistic man putting himself through enormous personal hardship in service to others.”
The site of a second central London tunnel protest organised by environmental activists who were raising concerns about the felling of six mature trees for a development of council and private housing, has been cleared of protesters. One protester occupied a tunnel built on a site at Highbury Corner on Tuesday but was removed by police after several hours and arrested. A second protester was arrested after being removed from one of the trees on the site.
Greens4HS2, a collection of members of the Green party who support the controversial HS2 rail project, has launched a new campaign website to challenge the party’s position on the scheme. The website, hs2.green, details the group’s positions and how it sees HS2 as a core part of a low-carbon future for British transport. Some of those protesting against the HS2 development are Green party members.
