The Greater Norwich Local Plan will go forward for a six week Regulation 19 publication period, which will start at 09.00 on Monday 1 February 2021 and close at 17.00 on Monday 15 March 2021. No representations will be accepted outside of this period. See Consultations.
Widespread opposition to Government White Paper Proposals
A big thank you to all who responded to the Yare Valley Society call to respond to the Government’s White Paper “Planning for the Future” Consultation. It was not an easy undertaking. The consultation ended on 29 October.
Another thank you if your added your name to the CPRE (Council for the Preservation of Rural England) petition against some of the key proposals.
The YVS committee saw the government’s proposals as a major attack on local democracy and a threat to the ability of the YVS and its members to safeguard the green space of the Yare Valley in the future.
We are not alone.
On 8th December the CPRE with other campaigners headed to Westminster, to hand in 310,265 signatures calling for the government to stop its “disastrous plans” to change our planning laws.
The CPRE writes:
“We commissioned a poll of MPs and found that over half of Conservative MPs weren’t happy with the proposals – the same proposals that had come from their own party! So it came as no surprise to us to see a fiery debate in the House of Commons where 46 MPs spoke out against the plans – and even more wanted to, but the debate simply ran out of time.
Of these 46 MPs publicly voicing their unhappiness with the suggested changes, a huge 33 were from the Conservative Party – including former Prime Minister Theresa May. The issues that they were raising were just as we’ve been saying for many months: that the plans would lead to building on green spaces near to where people live (the very local green spaces that have been so important to so many of us during the pandemic year); that fewer homes that people could actually afford to live in would be built; and that the chances for people to get involved in shaping the future of where they live would be eroded.
And it’s not just the government’s own MPs who have problems with the plans. Organisations from across the environmental, housing and planning sectors have come together to say a big NO to the existing proposals. We were one of more than 30 groups who sent a letter to the Prime Minister warning of the disastrous impacts on nature and people if he dismantled the planning system.”
YVS will be looking for a positive response from the government to address the concerns raised. If it fails to do so YVS will be asking members to take action again.
Yare Valley Society responds to “Planning for the Future”
The Yare Valley Society response to the consultation on the Government’s White Paper on the future of Planning can now be read on the Consultation Page.
Do not leave it to the Society alone. Please make your personal response to the consultation. More information on how to do this is on the Consultation Page.
Don’t forget to sign the Council for the Protection of Rural England’s (CPRE’s) petition.
CPRE says “Don’t let the government deregulate planning”
Sign the Petition
The Council for the Protection of Rural England is calling on all of us to take action on the Government plans “Planning for the Future”
“The government has devised some new plans that could pose a huge risk to the countryside and the communities living and working within it.
Ministers want to take decision-making powers away from communities and local councils, handing it over to housing developers and central powers in Westminster.
Under these new proposals, our ability to shape the future of where we live – a right communities have had for 70 years – could be lost with the stroke of a pen.”
The Government plans are a serious threat to our ability to protect the Yare Valley from development in the future. The Yare Valley Society Committee urges you to sign the CPRE Petition to be found here.
This is only a tiny step to expressing opposition to the Government’s proposals. Please respond to the current consultation on the proposals. See Consultations for details.
Planning for the Future – Environment Groups see threat to green space
The government plans to sweep away many of our planning controls as part of their “Build Build Build” strategy. Papers for the Consultation are here.
See the Consultations Page for environmental concerns.
Protect our green space by responding to the consultation.
Norwich Rugby Club Development on UEA Playing fields Rethink
The following news item appeared today (8/8/2020) on the Norwich Rugby Club website:
“RELOCATION PLAN IS OFF
This message from Bob Annable:
At the AGM I advised that the University of East Anglia had expressed an intention to withdraw from the Colney Lane development and the Club’s relocation project. I can now tell you that the University has formally confirmed its intention to withdraw by issuing us with an appropriate notice to that effect. A press release has been issued today.
Since being made aware of this likelihood, the Development Committee has been considering the alternative options that are open to us and continues to do so. Once we have assessed these options the intention is to share them with the Membership for formal feedback and views.
There is also a need to manage any financial liability this decision leaves us with. We will be starting discussions with the University next week but can tell you the relationship remains amicable and collaborative and that we have the University ‘s assurance to work with us in finding an acceptable proposal that does not leave the club in an any more challenging financial position than we currently face as a consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic.
We therefore see this very much as ‘business as usual’ at Beeston Hyrne, for the foreseeable future and once the current constraints imposed on us by Covid 19 are behind us.”
Further background details are available in the Eastern Daily Press for today (8/8/2020) on page 12, and on-line here
The Yare Valley Society comments: The proposed relocation of the Rugby Club and the building of a new Club House and parking area was a serious intrusion into the Yare Valley Green Infrastructure Corridor, seemingly contradicting its protected status. Some parking space for the Rugby Club, by Colney Lane, has already been constructed, covering green space with asphalt. As the Yare Valley Society warned at the time, the nature of the planning approval permitted a car park to be constructed for a facility that may not exist. What a mess!
The Yare Valley Society will be reviewing the changed situation and what it might mean for the Yare Valley green space in the future.
Whitlingham Broad, Marston Marsh and Eaton Common on B-line
Agriculture and urban expansion have put pressure on some of the most valuable habitats for pollinators in our region. Many of the remaining wildflower-rich habitats are small and increasingly isolated within the landscape. A new B-Lines project by the Invertebrate Conservation Trust, Buglife, and funded by Defra, aims “to create an interconnected web of potential and existing wildflower habitats across the UK, aiming to help restore populations of insects”.
Norwich is at a B-lines crossroads. One of the B-lines follows the Yare Valley from Whitlingham Broad through Lakenham wetlands, Marston Marsh and Eaton Common, before turning south towards Diss. The B-lines will help link the saltmarsh and coastal habitats to the region’s inland wetlands, heathlands, flower-rich grasslands and brownfield sites. The B-lines will benefit a whole host of species, including important pollinators.
If you live, work, own land or go to school on a B-Line, Buglife gives guidance on how you can help with the project. Buglife quotes Richard Attenborough:
‘If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world’s ecosystems would collapse.’
KEEP OUR VALLEY GREEN
Yare Valley Society is saying KEEP OUR VALLEY GREEN in a campaign to promote participation in the latest Local Government consultation on the Greater Norwich Local Plan. The consultation will run from the 29 January to the 16 March 2020. It will be available on line, but you can make a paper response if you wish. A number of CONSULTATION ROADSHOWS will take place. The Yare Valley Society has put up Posters on Noticeboards in the Yare Valley area to ask those who care for the valley to:
Say what you like, say what you don’t like in the
Visit a CONSULTATION ROADSHOW*
Question the intrusion of building development into the Yare Valley Green Space adjacent to Bluebell Road, Norwich. (Site GNLP 0133 – E)
Find information at the GNLP website, and Yare Valley Society comments on the consultation.
Tell your friends.
*Consultation Roadshows local to the Yare Valley are at: Cringleford Willow Centre, Tuesday 4 February 2 – 8 pm Costessey Centre, 13 February 2 – 8 pm Norwich, The Forum, 26 February and 5 March 2 – 8 pm North Wymondham Community Centre, 14 February 2 – 8 pm
For a full list of the roadshows go here.