Norwich Western Link update - Monday 19 August 2024

The consultation on the planning application for the project, run by the county planning authority, is due to end today (Monday 19 August). Natural England, the Government's statutory adviser on the natural environment, has recently provided a response to this consultation, and we are in the process of reviewing this.

You may be aware that Natural England had provided some feedback about our proposals for the project in March, shortly before we were due to submit the planning application. We have continued to discuss our proposals for the Norwich Western Link with Natural England over the last few months. While we have managed to resolve some of the points Natural England raised in March, others remain unresolved, which is disappointing given the scale of mitigation measures included in our proposals.

With the Norwich Western Link in place, traffic congestion on local roads and in communities to the west of Norwich would be significantly reduced, road safety would improve and journey times through that area would be quicker and more reliable. These are important issues to people living and working in the county, as well as to our business community.

The proposals in the planning application documents were well-considered and thorough, factoring in known data and existing guidance. When new and relevant information emerges, it's important that we take account of this - we have done this throughout our time progressing this project to date, and will continue to do this now.

We will need some time to consider the consultation response from Natural England, alongside all the other feedback provided through the consultation, and we will continue to work with the planning authority to respond to issues raised by consultees. We will provide a further update on next steps once we have done this.