In 2018, Sefton Council brought a judicial review against Highways England on the basis that it felt a tunnel should have been presented as an option. The High Court ruled in favour of Highways England, but the legal action resulted in a considerable delay to the project. In August 2019, Highways England were forced to publicly apologise for claiming that, in this judicial review, a judge had upheld its preferred route for a road through Rimrose Valley. This was inaccurate: the judge had simply ruled that it was not legally required to consult on a tunnel option.