A residents group is planning on taking the council to court over its decision to remove the A34 Perry Barr flyover.
Members of the A34 Safety Action Group have handed a letter of intent to the council regarding the decision, which will see the flyover demolished as part of a £27.1 million ‘regeneration’ of Perry Barr and the surrounding area But the council has hit back, saying that it will ‘robustly defend’ the decision if it is taken to court. The Safety Action Group has long opposed the decision to bring down the flyover and helped to organise a 15,000-signature petition against the plans last year.
However, it now seems that the group has taken its opposition to the next level, giving the council until March 13 to find a solution before officially applying for a judicial review.
In a letter to the council, the group says it is seeking a judicial review on the following grounds:
- That no road safety audits were completed prior to the decision being passed.
- That no ‘value for money’ analysis was completed prior to the decision being passed.
- That there was a lack of meaningful consultation, with the group alleging that several areas were excluded from the consultation process.
- Equalities impact on BAME community, claiming that the council made no additional effort to engage BAME communities in the consultation.
The letter then goes on to state that the Safety Action Group is not seeking any kind of financial settlement, but that it wants the above issues to be resolved, with road safety audits, value for money assessments and traffic modelling to be carried out, among other measures.
A judicial review is a process under which executive or legislative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. If a judicial review is successful then the original decision is usually dismissed and has to be taken again.
A spokesperson for the council said: “We have gone through the full range of council processes and related consultation and scrutiny to reach the decision on this project – a scheme that is absolutely critical if we are to realise the full potential of the regeneration of Perry Barr, which is seeing in excess of £500million being invested into one of the most deprived areas of our city.
“We consider the decision to progress the scheme is sound and will robustly defend it in the event of a legal challenge, but given the letter of intent to take legal action on this matter, it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this stage.”
Article originally appeared on Birmingham Live
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