Norfolk A47 schemes at centre of High Court legal battle

Plans for the revamp of the Thickthorn roundabout on the edge of Norwich and dualling of the A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham and Easton to North Tuddenham are taking centre stage at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The A47 between Easton and North Tuddenham (Image: National Highways)

Lawyers representing climate activist Andrew Boswell, who brought the case to the High Court because of concerns over their environmental impact, told a judge the government decisions to allow those schemes to happen were unlawful.

Andrew Boswell (Image: Archant)

Lawyers for the government insist the decisions were not unlawful.

Two transport secretaries had granted consent for the schemes.

But David Wolfe, KC, acting for former city and county councillor Dr Boswell, told the court hearing - known as a judicial review- that the cumulative carbon impact of all the A47 projects had not been lawfully considered.

He said: "The issue before the court is how transport secretaries, in deciding whether or not to grant a development consent order for each scheme approached the climate change ramifications.

"The point here is how they understood and approached the legality of the exercise that they did."

He told the court the government had a statutory duty to consider the cumulative carbon impact of the schemes and to help meet the government's target to reach net zero by 2050.

But he said the secretaries of state had "misdirected" themselves in how they applied the information about what carbon each scheme would produce in terms of construction and traffic and the cumulative impact of that.

That, Dr Wolfe, said was "a legal error", which he argues should render the decisions to grant permission unlawful.

But James Strachan, KC, representing the government, said: "There is no basis for Dr Wolfe to characterise it as an error of law. It was not."

He said the cumulative impact of the Norfolk schemes had been considered, identifying their percentage impact on the national carbon budget.

He said there was no prescribed method to work that out.

Mr Strachan said transport secretaries had used "careful consideration" and "evaluative judgement" over what the impact of all projects would be on a national, not local, scale.

He said Dr Boswell might not agree with the way that was done, but that it was "appropriate".

Mrs Justice Thornton (Image: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary)

After more submissions on Thursday, High Court judge Mrs Justice Thornton will weigh up the case.

If she decides an unlawful decision was made, she could block the schemes from happening or send them back to the drawing board.

And that could have ramifications for road schemes across the county, including the Norwich Western Link.

But if she rejects Dr Boswell's argument, then National Highways can start work on the long-delayed A47 schemes.

But a verdict on whether the decisions were lawful or not is likely to be some weeks or months away.

The challenge has meant National Highways - the government company with responsibility for major A roads including the A47 - has not been able to begin construction at the three locations.

The plans for Thickthorn include a new slip road off the A11 northbound, which will take motorists beneath both roads before re-joining traffic on the A47 heading towards Great Yarmouth - eliminating the need to use the roundabout.

Thickthorn roundabout (Image: Mike Page)

Just over 1.6 miles of the road between Blofield and North Burlingham - considered a crash blackspot by police - are due to be dualled.

And five-and-a-half miles of the road between Easton and North Tuddenham are also due to be dualled.

The A47 schemes were originally announced in 2014, by then prime minister David Cameron, with £300m earmarked for Norfolk schemes, along with other improvements in Cambridgeshire.