Norfolk County Council has their meeting on putting forward the road plans to the Department of Transport for funding (the Outline Business Case (OBC) on March 8th. 
This is an important step (although by no means a final one) in the process of getting the NWL built.
Therefore we all need to contact NCC to let them know our concerns about the project before this meeting and ask them to just pause and rethink the plans in the light of COVID and increased environmental and ecological concerns.
Please see below for help with contacting NCC

 

There have been some articles in the press recently about the terrible traffic that residents of villages such as Weston Longville suffer currently. The SWL believe that these problems could be solved without a major new road. Part of the reason we are asking for a Pause and Review is to redirect money and effort into solving traffic problems in other ways that won't just move the problem elsewhere.
Although only the Council will be able to gather the data and access the resources to create viable solutions, there are members of the Wensum Valley Association looking into what has been successful elsewhere to help point the NCC in the right direction. Please email us if you would like to be part of this.

 

 

It has been a year since the bat crowdfunder was launched.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far!
If you were unable to attend our excellent webinar in December you can see a summary of the main findings here
There is still a lot of research to be done, to have robust findings to present to the NCC and DfT, so please donate if you can.

 

 

Norfolk County Council have an Ecology Liaison Group, with representatives from local nature conservation groups 'with the purpose of sharing information and ideas and providing in-depth local insight on ecological matters.'
SWL read the minutes on these meetings  and note the attendance of the all the groups. We are disappointed! There is very little challenge and scrutiny, and attendance of meetings are poor.
Having an ELG means that publicly the NCC can say that plans have been approved by ecological interest groups. But if most of them are not attending, or significantly engaging, this is a meaningless exercise and is just allowing the Council to greenwash the project.
Therefore we are launching an  Alternative Ecology Group!
To start we have a letter to the council and we are gathering signatures from engaged groups and highly respected ecologists.
We already have a long list, but we would like more people to be involved!
If you are an ecologist yourself or a member of a concerned group please get in touch: [email protected].
We would also like to help members of the NCC ELG to be more engaged and use their position. If you are a member of any of the organisations involved you could prompt them to be more active. It may be lack of time, resources and lack of detailed information that is the problem: we can help with that! See the bottom of the email for the list of groups on the ELG. Please let us know if you get in touch with them.

 

Norwich City Council have withdrawn their support for the NWL. 

Thanks to everyone who contacted the city council and submitted questions last month!
In theory they would still support the road if certain conditions were fulfilled, but these are highly unlikely to be met. We now hope North Norfolk District Council will follow their lead and withdraw their support, as regional support props the project up. This is a Liberal Democrat led council and the Liberal Democrats have a national stance on environmental issues that would seem to be at odds with supporting major road schemes locally.
Please see below for action you can take.

 

We hope to see you soon at one of our events, despite all the restrictions we have a lot going on!