About the Norwich Western Link
At a glance
The Norwich Western Link is a proposed new section of dual carriageway to connect the Broadland Northway (formerly known as the Northern Distributor Road) between the A1067 and the A47 in the west of Norwich. Since construction began on the Broadland Northway, there have been sustained calls to fill in the 'missing link' and significantly improve travel between these two major roads.
Why we're doing it
We're responding to the problems raised by communities to the west of Norwich, who suffer from significant rat-running and congestion. We are also making sure we have the infrastructure needed to support future growth in housing and employment, which is vital to support the local economy in Norwich and Norfolk.
Making our case
The Outline Business Case, which was approved by central government in 2023, and the planning application documents set out the case we are making for the project, and the evidence that supports this.
What happens next
The planning application was submitted to the planning authority in April 2024.
In this instance the planning authority is Norfolk County Council, but this is an entirely separate part of the authority to the project team. The planning authority conducted a statutory consultation on the planning application between June and August 2024.
Views expressed by one of the consultees on the project, Natural England, mean we currently have a significant impediment to delivering the Norwich Western Link. The Leader of the Council has written to government Ministers to request their assistance to resolve the situation and achieve a good outcome for the people and businesses of Norfolk.
A report to our Cabinet provided an update on the project, including this issue, and at a meeting on Monday 2 December 2024, all the recommendations in the report were agreed, which confirmed the next steps.
Protecting the environment
We're committed to creating this road in an environmentally responsible way. We are aiming to achieve 'biodiversity net gain' for all applicable habitats, as set out by Defra, which will see new areas of habitat created, including woodland and wetland, as well as improvements to existing ones.
We will ensure the project has no adverse impacts on the integrity of the River Wensum Special Area of Conservation, which can be achieved through, for example, the design of the viaduct and
construction methods.
We've also established an Ecology Liaison Group, involving representatives from local nature conservation groups with the purpose of sharing information and ideas and providing in-depth local insight on ecological matters.
Complementary transport measures
One of the Norwich Western Link's project objectives is to encourage and support people to walk, cycle and use public transport. Taking traffic off the existing road network will help with this, but we're also working to develop complementary transport measures that will support this ambition. Between July and September 2020 we carried out a public consultation which asked for people's views on proposals to support walking, cycling and public transport use. You can read more about the outcome of this consultation on the Have Your Say page.
Taking account of the consultation responses, we are now developing proposals to improve Public Rights of Way in the vicinity of the Norwich Western Link route as well as measures to make walking and cycling more attractive across a wider area.
We are also proposing to put in traffic mitigation measures on the existing road network in some locations as part of the project, to encourage traffic to keep to major routes where appropriate.
Project objectives
The project objectives set out what the Norwich Western Link project should provide and enable. The objectives are in two tiers - high-level objectives and specific objectives.
High-level objectives
- Support sustainable economic growth
- Improve the quality of life for local communities
- Promote an improved environment
- Improve strategic connectivity with the national road network
Specific objectives
- Improve connectivity and journey times on key routes in Greater Norwich
- Reduce the impacts of traffic on people and places within the western area of Greater Norwich
- Encourage and support walking, cycling and public transport use
- Improve safety on and near the road network, especially for pedestrians and cyclists
- Protect the natural and built environment, including the integrity of the River Wensum Special Area of Conservation
- Improve accessibility to key sites in Greater Norwich
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