Plans for the £274m Norwich Western Link (NWL) are set to be opposed by Norwich City Council, dealing another blow to the troubled road project.
The NWL has already received opposition from Natural England, which said it would block the scheme due to its impact on bats.
The city council is putting in a late response to a consultation on the scheme, which closed on 19 August, after the cabinet committee meets next week: the members have been advised by officers to reaffirm the authority's opposition to the scheme and to refuse any funding.
A report to cabinet members of the Labour-led city council recommends they continue to oppose the plan, as they did two years ago. It states: 'The NWL proposals would construct a 3.8-mile dual carriageway between the Broadland Northway from the A1067 to the A47 west of Norwich.
'In the context of the Transport for Norwich Strategy and programme, it is not supported by sufficiently convincing evidence that the NWL is a critical part of an environmentally progressive and deliverable transport strategy for the city that delivers:
- Considerable air quality and decongestion benefits in the city;
- A comprehensive investment package in public transport, cycling and walking that is commensurate with the investment being considered for the NWL capable of delivering against internationally agreed carbon reduction targets;
- The completion of complementary schemes before the NWL is completed;
- A political mechanism to ensure the governance is in place to ensure that these commitments are implemented; and
- Evidence that the wildlife and landscape impacts of the scheme can be satisfactorily mitigated.
'In the light of this position the City Council would not be prepared to support any proposal for the pooled funding resources of the Greater Norwich Growth Board being used to assist with delivery of the scheme.'
As well as outlining environmental and carbon concerns, the report also discusses the impact of induced demand and the lack of further road and public transport schemes to compensation.
The scheme's developers acknowledge that 'National Highways’ A47 North Tuddenham to Easton Improvement Scheme will draw more traffic through the area between the A1067 and A47 and it will close off several existing roads through the area, increasing pressure on those that remain'.
The report states that 'this will also happen if the NWL is built and exemplifies the process whereby creating road space of this nature generates additional traffic that is then used to make the case for more road building in future'.
It concludes: 'It is therefore a missed opportunity that there are no schemes proposed on Watton Road (B1108), Earlham Road (B1108) or Dereham Road (A1074) in association with the NWL for cyclists, pedestrians or bus passengers that would lock in the benefits and avoid inducing traffic growth.'
'It was later discovered'
The report also notes a bizarre political governnance issue following local discontent about the County Council’s 'unilateral decision to end our successful and long-standing Highways Agency Agreement and disband the Norwich Highways Agency Committee that was associated with it in March 2020'.
In the aftermath, a new committee was set up with decisions made by elected members from Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, Broadland District Council and South Norfolk Council.
That committee apprently 'worked well' and its members voted on decisions in relation to published reports - until it was 'later discovered that the committee was not legally constituted to make decisions'.
Norwich officers note with an apprent hint of bitterness that 'rather than correcting the legal status and giving the committee the power to make decisions the County Council decided that the committee should have advisory status instead'.
The County Council then abolished the advisory committee altogether.
Norwich City Council notes: 'A political mechanism therefore does not currently exist that would give us the confidence that sustainable transport measures would be implemented to make the building of the NWL acceptable.'
