Norfolk County Council has shelved its £274m Norwich Western Link scheme after advice from Natural England about its impact on bats forced the authority to withdraw its planning application.
In a statement, Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure described the scheme as ‘a priority infrastructure project for the council’ but said the highway authority had ‘made the difficult decision to withdraw the current planning application and prioritise discussions with the Department for Transport (DfT) on the way forward for the project’.
Cllr Plant recalled that last March, ‘days before our planning application was due to be submitted, it became clear that Natural England's position had changed and we had a significant impediment to delivering the proposed Norwich Western Link’.
This is a reference to new Natural England guidance that barbastelle bats, which would be affected by the scheme, are not seen to be thriving and should not be disturbed.
At that time, council leader Kay Mason Billig said the change would make it almost impossible for the council to be granted a licence for the scheme, without which it could not be built.
Cllr Plant said that since then ‘our serious efforts to find a solution have unfortunately not provided a way forward’.
He added that responses in December from Natural England and Defra, the Government department that sponsors it, did not 'help to resolve the issue that is preventing us from progressing this important infrastructure project’.
‘I can reassure you that the Norwich Western Link remains a priority project for this council. We hope to have discussions with DfT shortly to agree the way forward and reach a good outcome. Until we've spoken to DfT and reached agreement, we do not want to pre-judge that outcome but our priority remains helping the traffic-blighted communities and improving travel and road safety to the west of Norwich,’ he said.
With the council at risk of having to repay central government funding for the failed scheme, Cllr Plant added: ‘Discussions with DfT will also inform how we deal with the finances on the project and, again, our aim will be to reach a good outcome for Norfolk on this.
‘It's important to remember though that we were able to demonstrate the great need to improve travel to the west of Norwich through the two business cases that were submitted to DfT in the process so far, both of which they approved.’
Chris Todd, director of Transport Action Network, said: ‘The council was warned about the existence of internationally important bat roosts many years ago, but carried on regardless. This issue has finally come back to haunt it and effectively killed the scheme off. The council now needs to focus on measures that will reduce traffic, whilst preserving important natural habitats.’
