Council Report - Norwich Northern Distributor Route - 12 ….doc

NORWICH NORTHERN DISTRIBUTOR ROUTE Portfolio Holder(s): Cllr Iles Planning Policy and Conservation Wards Affected: All; indirectly SUMMARY The Council has recently received copies of correspondence sent by the County Council to a number of residents in the area around Attlebridge, Moreton on the Hill and Weston Longville. This concerns the outcome of earlier consultations on potential routes for a Northern Distributor Road around Norwich. The correspondence is appended. It is largely self explanatory. INTRODUCTION 2.1 Members will recall that there have been a number of consultations, most recently at the end of 2004, when a range of routes were suggested for the western most section of the road, crossing the Wensum Valley. These consisted of a green line route passing between Taverham and Drayton and then along the Tud valley through Costessy, an orange route which passed close to Taverham and connected with the Longwater junction of the Southern Bypass, passing through or adjacent to the proposed development north of the River Tud, a blue route which passed through Ringland Hills, a red route which passed to the west of Ringland village and two routes which were designed to avoid a new crossing of the Wensum, and which relied upon the existing crossing at Attlebridge. This would have required widening to deal with a dual carriageway route. The routes in question passed to the east of Weston Longville village and the former airfield before separating, the brown route to rejoin the A47 close to the Easton Bypass and the purple route, avoiding a crossing of the River Tud joining the A47 near Honingham. The District Council’s view at that time was that it preferred the orange route but would not object to the red route – it would, however, object to the other alignments. OUTCOME OF THE CONSULTATION The County Council considered the results of the further consultation outlined above on possible routes for the Northern Distributor Road in March 2005. Particular