It's the end of the road!

Following the withdrawal of the planning application for the NWL, Norfolk County Council were in discussions with the Department for Transport about the future of the NWL. 

Now the government have announced that they will NOT overrule Natural England's objection to the road (which was because they would not grant a licence to disturb the bats).

So the NWL project is finally dead.

The bats and the ancient woods and the precious Wensum -- they are free from threat at last!  Thank you to all the marvellous people who have supported us, especially the near 5,000 people who submitted objections to the application. This must surely have had an influence on the government's decision.

The government has excused Norfolk County Council from paying back the £33M they gave them to pursue the road plan.  But they also slammed them for failing their constituents, and wasting valuable resources.  This is complete vindication of the Stop the Wensum Link's campaign.

The Department for Transport also tasked the council with solving the traffic problems to the west of Norwich.Stop the Wensum Link has already reminded Graham Plant, the Norfolk County Council cabinet member for transport, that he promised to meet with us to discuss alternatives to the road if the NWL were to be ditched. We are awaiting a reply....

It's a huge victory for environmental law to be upheld in the face of such pressure to 'just build it!' 

We had the combination of:

Solid evidence on the bats (due to hard work of the ecologists and the crowdfunding that supported them to do their research).

The support of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust to ensure that that evidence was used by Natural England.

And our huge campaign, supported by our many partner organisations, that kept it all in the public eye.

So, once again, huge thanks to all who supported us. 

The battle is over, but the war against roads which threaten the Wensum valley is unlikely to end here.   We will continue to oppose any road plans which would devastate this precious area, and seek to promote better options to solve traffic problems.

The Stop the Wensum Link team

photo credit Wensum - Keith Osborn Photography