Category: UEA Sculpture Park

Posted on

Pylons in the Yare Valley?

Please help YVS to safeguard the Valley by responding to a consultation on the likely impact of installing pylons, solar panels, and other energy developments in the Yare Valley.

Pylons on Marston Marsh?

The Background

South Norfolk District Council is consulting on a draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which deals with Landscape Susceptibility in relation to Energy Generation, Storage and Transmission as it relates to Local Character Areas* (LCAs) within its boundaries. It has drafted assessments of how susceptible the LCAs are to the development of solar photovoltaic panels, anaerobic digestion (AD) plants, battery storage facilities, overhead powerlines including 400kV lines that utilise the largest pylons (35-50m), underground cable routes, and substations. Among the LCAs assessed is LCA F1: Yare Valley Urban Fringe which is a part of South Norfolk that lies in the Yare Valley on the south side of the Norwich boundary (the river is the boundary).

The Yare Valley Society is concerned that the present draft susceptibility assessment in the consultation does not take fully into account the special circumstances of LCA F1. It is unique amongst the LCAs of South Norfolk, lying as it does in an urban fringe and forming part of the larger Yare Valley Green Infrastructure Corridor.

YVS is pressing for LCA F1 to have a special status and be included in the main body of the report under its own separate section. The YVS case for special status is here.

How you can help

Please read the YVS case, and if you agree, please then email (planning@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk) to give your own personal angle on why F1 should be given special consideration.

The consultation ends on 1st September 2025, but please respond now.

Additional information

The click on the items below for the consultation documents.

Landscape Susceptibility in relation to Energy Generation, Storage and Transmission – SPD

Landscape Susceptibility SPD – Supporting Documents Appendices and Impact Reports.

For a second submission to South Norfolk Council, YVS is preparing a detailed response to Appendix 3 Landscape Susceptibility Analysis of F1 (Pages 76 to 85). You might like to have a look at this and send in your comments to Planning at South Norfolk (email above).

Thank you for caring for the Valley

*Local Character Area status provides a degree of protection from inappropriate development. In the case of the Yare Valley LCA this is reflected in Policy DM 4.5 Landscape Character and River Valleys: “All development should respect, conserve and where possible, enhance the landscape character of its immediate and wider environment. Development proposals that would cause significant adverse impact on the distinctive landscape characteristics of an area will be refused. …”

Posted on

UEA calls for Biodiversity Heroes for conservation work in the Valley

The new Biodiversity Officer and Volunteer Coordinator at the University of East Anglia, Nadia El-Fakhri, is putting together a list of people who would be interested in helping out on conservation work parties at UEA. Her role is new at UEA. It was created to implement the University’s Green Infrastructure Strategy. UEA’s aim is to conserve and improve ecologically important areas on campus for biodiversity and to involve the community in the process.

Nadia says:

“We’ll be working on a few different sites across campus including areas closed to the public such as Bluebell Marsh and Lusty Hills. Tasks this winter will be things like gorse and scrub clearing, tree removal and reed cutting. In the warmer months we’re hoping to do some river bank restoration, ragwort pulling (so we can continue to make hay!) and biodiversity monitoring. All training and equipment is provided and there will of course be hot drinks, treats and socials down the line when we have regular groups established. I’ll be sending an email out with details soon so if anyone would like to be on the contact list please fill in this form.” 

Nadia on the left at YVMM plant survey at UEA meadow

Nadia is experienced in conservation work and was previously one of the Yare Valley Meadow Makers (YVMM). If you are interested in giving practical help to improve the ecology of the UEA area of the Yare Valley Green Corridor, please sign up with the UEA Biodiversity Heroes here.

All equipment, PPE and training will be provided and there will be hot drinks, treats and socials down the line when some regular groups are established.

 If you have any questions you can email Nadia at n.el-fakhri@uea.ac.uk.

Posted on

Sowers and the Reapers

The Yare Valley Meadow Makers has recently been busy preparing the ground for next year’s crop of wildflowers. A lot has been done, and a large area of UEA meadows is now ready for seeding.

Preparing the ground
Taking a break

In the upper picture, look beyond the workers and to the right and you will see lurking in the background “The Reapers” Three in all, they are an addition to the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture Park.

A Reaper up close

The Artist Ivan Morison says “In gaming circles Reapers are a synthetic-organic alien race, connecting us to the fear we share of the mutant monsters sure to come from human techno meddling in plant biology. …” The works are an outcome of the artist’s research residency Towards the Weird Heart of Things at The Sainsbury Centre.

Posted on

Rabbit Goddess appears

 

Rabbit Goddess

After several delays the intriguing Isagi Kannon or “Rabbit Goddess” by Leiko Ikemura has finally arrived in the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture Park at UEA.

“This hybrid, mythical bronze figure was created in response to the Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima disaster of March 2011. Like the Buddhist divinity Bodhisattva Kannon, Ikemura’s ‘Rabbit Goddess’ emanates compassion and mercy”

 

 

Inside the Rabbit Goddess

 

It is located to the west of the rear of the Sainsbury Centre and makes an interesting detour from the Yare Valley Walk. The sculpture invites  children to explore inside and out.

Posted on

Goodwood Steps on Campus

 

Please do not touch

The latest addition to the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture has appeared on the UEA campus. The “Do not touch” signs are rather bizarre on a sculpture that looks so robust. Hopefully the signs and the fencing will disappear once the Steps are fully installed, and it will be possible to relate the sculpture better to its surroundings.

Steps and steps

The Sainsbury Centre comments: “Goodwood Steps is an impressive large-scale work which has been selected to compliment the UEA’s Brutalist architecture and sit within the natural environment of the campus”.

Something to ponder about on the Yare Valley Walk.

Brutalism to the fore

More about the Sculpture Park can be found at https://www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk/sculpture-park/

Posted on

Sainsbury Centre proposes new addition to Sculpture Park

Anthony Caro’s “Goodwood Steps” has been offered to the Sainsbury Centre on a three-year loan from the Anthony Caro studio.  The Sculpture is a large steel structure 33 metre long and 6.5 metre high. April 2021 is the projected installation date.

The intended site for the sculpture is on the open grass parkland beside the University Broad and facing the Ziggurats between Norfolk and Suffolk Terrace. “The placement of this work in proximity to the Lasdun buildings has been specifically selected to resonate and form a powerful echo or reflection of the Ziggurat architecture.”

The Planning Application for the Sculpture can be viewed on the Norwich Planning Website and searching under reference 21/00124/F. Any comments you have should be with Norwich Planning Department by 26th February 2021.

The Yare Valley Society has concerns about the intrusion of this large structure into the open green grassland space so close to the Broad.  YVS will ask for it to be positioned further away from the Broad and closer to the ziggurats.

 

Posted on

Man of stones immersed in his landscape

Man of Stones emerges from the floods

After his survival from the floods the Man of Stones can truly be said to be immersed in his environment. He forms part of the University of East Anglia Sainsbury Centre’s Sculpture Park, and stands between the River and the University Broad. The River and the Broad became as one in the floods.

 

Posted on

Rabbit Goddess and Sun’s Roots Sculptures proposed for Sainsbury Sculpture Park

The two sculptures, by LEIKO IKEMURA and PHILLIP KING respectively, are proposed in planning applications 20/00933/F and   20/00934/L. To get the overall picture the best document when starting any search is the “Heritage Impact Assessment”

The sculptures can be expected to add interest, fun and novelty to the Yare Valley Walk and the Yare Valley Society committee have no plans to object to the applications. If you would like to make a comment you should contact Norwich Planning Department using the references above before 1st September 2020.

Posted on

Elisabeth Frink Sculptures at the UEA

UEA hope to acquire two Elisabeth Frink Sculptures, Mirage I and Mirage II to display as part of their Sculpture Park.  Positioned on the north-west edge of the lake, the sculptures would be viewable from the Sainsbury Centre and the Yare Valley Walk. The unveiling of the sculptures at the Sainsbury Centre will coincide with Elisabeth Frink: Humans and other Animals, a major exhibition celebrating the work of Dame Elisabeth Frink born in East Anglia in 1930. More details are to be found in Planning Application 18/01120/F at Norwich City Planning.