Green Party

Too much large scale development in the countryside based around road transport

The Green Party says the plan for the future growth of the Norwich area being worked out by a consortium of local councils isn’t “up to scratch”.

Norwich City Council, Broadland District Council and South Norfolk District Council are working with Norfolk County Council to produce a strategy for managing future growth, to be submitted to government soon. It’s supposed to set out where new housing may be located, how opportunities for jobs may be created and what new infrastructure and facilities are required.

In a detailed consultation response, the Greens say the plan as currently proposed is unsound because it envisages large scale development in the countryside, based around road transport.

The Greens' concern has been heightened by the announcement yesterday that the Government will provide £67.5m to allow a new road to be built from Postwick to the airport, approximately half of the proposed Northern Distributor Road. The Green Party believes that this will increase gridlock in the north east of the city because it is a partial route that will ensure new development is road based. The money could make a huge difference in improving public transport, both in the existing city area and in ensuring that any new development has first class public transport from the outset.

The Green Party also maintains that the Joint Core Strategy falls short in

• ensuring jobs and services such as education will be available locally to new housing developments to reduce the need for travel
• ensuring high quality public transport links, which will be more affordable if new development is not too widely dispersed
• protecting green spaces by taking a new look at higher density housing to avoid urban sprawl
• improving the efficiency of energy and water use in existing properties so new development doesn’t strain resources
• taking account of future flood risk by not building homes on low-lying land.

Commenting on the Green Party response, Adrian Ramsay, the General Election candidate for Norwich South, said:

“Any development that does go ahead must be of the highest environmental standard. That means not just the quality of buildings but minimising intrusion into countryside. It must offer good services and jobs locally and high quality public transport. Otherwise there will be even more gridlock on our roads."

"Dispersed development must be avoided because it results in sprawl into the countryside and puts pressure on existing services across the county. The current plan simply is not up to scratch.”

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