One
of
the
councils


on
the
abandoned
route
of
HS2
to
Crewe
says
the
impact
of
the
cancellation
could
force
it
into
effective
bankruptcy.

Cheshire
East
Council,
which
covers
Crewe
and
Macclesfield,
said
it
had
spent
£11
million
preparing
for
HS2,
of
which
£8.6
million
had
been
borrowed.

The
money
will
have
to
be
found
from
general
revenues
but
the
budget
is
already
under
pressure,
despite
a
number
of
economy
measures,
and
had
been
facing
a
deficit
of
£18.7
million
even
before
HS2
was
cancelled
in
October.

Councils
facing
a
cash
crisis
can
publish
a
‘Section
114’
notice
under
the
1988
Local
Government
Finance
Act,
which
is
issued
by
the
chief
finance
officer
when
it
appears
that
a
council’s
spending
will
exceed
its
resources.
The
result
is
a
halt
in
any
new
spending
for
up
to
21
days,
during
which
time
the
full
council
must
meet
and
decide
what
to
do
next.

Similar
cash
problems
have
already
affected
other
councils,
including
Nottingham
and
Northamptonshire,
although
their
shortfalls
were
not
connected
with
HS2.

Cheshire
East
Council
said
the
government’s
alternative
‘Network
North’
plans,
which
are
intended
to
use
the
£36
billion
which
would
have
been
spent
on
HS2
on
other
rail
and
road
projects
in
the
years
ahead,
will
make
no
difference
to
its
plight. 

The
council
has
been
holding
talks
with
rail
minister
Huw
Merriman.
At
a
meeting
of
the
full
council,
deputy
leader
Craig
Browne
said
leader
Sam
Corcoran
had
met
Mr
Merriman
and
they
had
‘agreed
that
a
dialogue
between
the
council
and
government
would
continue’.

In
a
related
development,
it
has
emerged
that
Prime
Minister
Rishi
Sunak
could
face
legal
action
over
the
cancellation
of
HS2
Phases
2A
and
2B
to
Crewe
and
Manchester.

New
Civil
Engineer
reports
that
the
campaigning
Good
Law
Project
has
told
the
government
that
it
is
considering
an
application
for
a
judicial
review
of
the
decision,
which
was
announced
by
Rishi
Sunak
at
the
Conservative
Party
Conference
on
4
October.

NCE
quotes
Good
Law
Project
director
Jo
Maugham
as
saying
the
organisation
has
‘sent
a
formal
letter
before
action
to
Rishi
Sunak
threatening
to
challenge
his
unilateral
decision
to
ignore
what
Parliament
has
enacted
about
HS2,
cancel
the
project,
and
salt
the
earth
by
selling
all
the
land.

‘We
haven’t
yet
formed
a
view
about
whether
we
will
sue
–
we
want
to
know
whether
affected
Mayors
and
MPs
are
serious
about
their
opposition.’

The
Government
has
given
a
preliminary
response,
claiming
that
transport
secretary
Mark
Harper
rather
than
the
Prime
Minister
was
the
‘decision
maker’,
but
the
Good
Law
Group
has
pointed
out
that
Mr
Sunak
used
the
words
‘I
am
ending
this
long
running
saga
and
cancelling
the
rest
of
the
HS2
project’
in
his
speech
to
the
Conference,
and
repeated
‘I
am
cancelling
the
rest
of
HS2’
in
a
post
on
his
Twitter
account
later
the
same
day.

Although
Mr
Sunak
had
wanted
to
begin
reselling
the
land
on
Phase
2A
to
Crewe
within
weeks,
the
Department
for
Transport’s
permanent
secretary
Dame
Bernadette
Kelly
has
stated
that
this
cannot
be
done
without
a
further
Act
of
Parliament
being
passed
first.