Anyone protesting along the line from London to Crewe can now be charged with contempt of court
HS2 has been given an extended injunction to help deter protestors along the high-speed line from London to Crewe.
The injunction makes it so anyone going onto the HS2 land could be charged contempt of court and be prosecuted.
This is in response to damages and disruption to the HS2 construction which is estimated to be around £122 million.
Justice Julian Knowles, a High Court judge at Birmingham’s Civil Justice Centre, said the injunction was “a fair balance between the rights of the individual protestors and the general right and interests of HS2”.
He added that he was “satisfied that there has been significant violence, criminality and sometimes risk to the life of the activists, HS2 staff and contractors” and that action was needed as “trespass and nuisance will continue, unless restrained, and that the risk is both real and imminent.”
However, opponents say this will infringe on people’s right to protest and also disrupt ecologists monitoring the build.
A HS2 spokesperson said this was not aimed to restrict law-abiding protestors. They stated:
“As Mr Justice Knowles makes clear, this injunction will not, and is not intended to, stop legitimate protest.
Instead, we hope the injunction will prevent the violence, intimidation, and criminal damage these protests have frequently caused, harming the HS2 project and those working on it, and costing the UK taxpayer millions of pounds.”
Ricardo Gama, a lawyer for the law firm Leigh Day, commented on the injunction stating it was “definitely one of the biggest” he’d ever seen. He continued:
“It criminalises a future action in a much more clear-cut and draconian way than the criminal law does,” said Mr Gama. “If there is a criminal offence, then there are safeguards in legislation and case law about what the offence constitutes and what the defence might be.”
Mark Keir, an anti-HS2 activist, called the judgement “a democracy-crippling decision”. He stated:
“Given the extent of the HS2 Land, the term has a clear chilling effect on all forms of protest against HS2.
Some HS2 land passes through high-density urban areas with multiple roads and public highways… It also covers woodland and other areas with public access and public rights of way.
Most of HS2 land is not subject to any physical demarcation or barrier… Notwithstanding the 283 pages of maps which have been produced, the breadth scope and complexity of the land subject to the proposed injunction is such that it is in practical terms not possible for persons to reliably ascertain the scope of the injunction.”
The HS2 line has had a profound impact upon landscapes across Britain, such as through Chiltern hills as the line cuts through over 2,000 miles of footpaths. The Chiltern Society have claimed many walkers have had to be diverted in case they accidentally broke the injunction.
Keith Hoffmeister, a volunteer for the society, stated:
“There is a danger that they set off on a nice walk across the countryside and start walking across a footpath that they might not even be aware is crossing HS2 land.
If they strayed off that footpath there is the potential for them to be committing a criminal offence – and likewise with the footpath maintenance volunteers who may be straying offline in order to cutback hedges.
They could easily stray off the footpath and again be prosecuted by HS2 for trespassing.”
The aim of HS2 was to shorten train times and allow greater access between London to Birmingham, Manchester and other areas.
Plans to open the line from Birmingham and London were due for the end of 2026, but due to delays have been pushed back to between 2029 and 2033. Other lines have also been delayed.
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