Legal costs associated with the pared-down HS2 high-speed rail line have soared as the project has become bogged down by court proceedings, it emerged this week.

A freedom of information request by the Gazette has revealed that HS2 Ltd has been named as the defendant in litigation in 45 separate cases since 2018.

The company set up to develop the project has employed 13 external law firms as well as the Government Legal Department to act for it. These include the likes of DLA Piper, Herbert Smith Freehills and Eversheds Sutherland.

The barrage of litigation preceded the decision by the government to scrap plans to extend the line from the West Midlands to Manchester.

In October, prime minister Rishi Sunak announced that the £36bn earmarked for the scheme should be spent on other transport initiatives.

HS2 Ltd spent less than £5m on legal costs in both 2018/19 and 2019/20, but that outlay then jumped by 69% to £7.5m. In 2022/23 legal costs soared further to around £9.2m.

Those figures look set to rise further as the government faces a potential glut of legal action relating to the decision to cancel part of the project.

Activist group the Good Law Project has threatened to challenge the decision, and there have been reports that local authorities affected by the scrapping of the Manchester section may also bring proceedings. Many councils have themselves incurred costs running into millions preparing reports and proposals. Last month, leaders of Cheshire East local authority said the council would have to write off the £11m it spent preparing for the high-speed rail link.

Rail unions have welcomed the prospect of a judicial review over what they call the ‘fire sale’ of properties and land that were acquired for phase two.

Transport secretary Mark Harper said last year that people who lost homes along the northern route would not be eligible for new compensation. He said: ‘Those properties were purchased at market value, so they will have been effectively compensated for that. The legal position won’t have changed for those people.’

 

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