Highways England has confirmed that it used factually incorrect wording in a recent communication, when giving its reasons for the huge delay in delivering the A5036 Port of Liverpool Access Scheme.
Their apology is below.
From: A5036 Port of Liverpool <A5036PortofLiverpool@highwaysengland.co.uk> Sent: 06 August 2019 13:53 Subject: FW: A5036 Port of Liverpool access scheme
Dear colleague,
I wrote to you on 18 July providing an update on Highway’s England’s current delivery plan for schemes in the North West.
It has since been pointed out that one of the statements for the A5036 Port of Liverpool scheme was factually incorrect.
It was stated within the letter that “we faced a legal challenge regarding our preferred route choice for the A5036 Port of Liverpool access scheme. This was lodged in November 2017 and heard by the court in October 2018. The court ruled in favour of the preferred route option but naturally the challenge has impacted on the 2019 construction date.”
This last sentence was incorrect.
The court held that Highways England did not act unlawfully in not consulting upon the tunnel option during the consultation exercise. The court did not express any views of the preferred route option. The A5036 Port of Liverpool Access Scheme was the subject of an unsuccessful challenge by Judicial Review and has been delayed as a consequence.
Please accept my sincere apologies for this error.
Yours faithfully
Dan Healey
Project Manager
Highways England