A14 campaigners await legal costs

CAMPAIGNERS who forced a two-year delay on improvements to the A14 say they are still waiting for their legal costs from the Highways Agency. Villagers in the Offords successfully challenged the agency s first consultation on proposals that included a new

CAMPAIGNERS who forced a two-year delay on improvements to the A14 say they are still waiting for their legal costs from the Highways Agency.

Villagers in the Offords successfully challenged the agency's first consultation on proposals that included a new southern bypass for Huntingdon passing closer than they wished to the villages.

In court, the agency admitted that it had failed to comply with its own rules requiring inclusion in the consultation of routes it had considered but decided were unbuildable.

After a further costly consultation, the agency has stuck with its original proposal, as it announced last month.

But the villagers' £53,500 costs of the original High Court hearing, which they lost, and the appeal, which they won, have still not been paid, lead campaigner Nita Tinn said. The agency had agreed to pay by November 21, she said.

The village's A14 action group has called a public meeting for Tuesday next week to decide what to do next. The three choices are to continue to press for the rejected Brown route - a lost cause - oppose the whole project or share the £20,000 it expects to have left after paying lawyers.

INFORMATION: The meeting on Tuesday takes place in the village hall, starting at 7.30pm.