Calls for rat-run help as road saga rumbles on

Paul Rodrigues, pictured next to Ringland bridge, is among the local residents in favour of the Norwich Western Link being built

The need to end a rat-run "nightmare" has been emphasised by rural residents as a council attempts to kick-start a stalled road project.

Norfolk County Council had to scrap plans in January for the £274m Norwich Western Link project due to Natural England's concerns about the impact on rare bats.

Government funding has now been secured to work on new options for the long-discussed road and the authority's highways chief, Graham Plant, is hopeful the project can be revived.

However, residents affected by the road not being built say the need is urgent, as "gridlocked" narrow roads regularly lead to "shouting and swearing".

An artist's impression of part of the original plans for the Norwich Western Link road

The 3.9-mile (6.2km) Western Link would have connected the Northern Distributor Road (NDR) to the A47 and effectively complete a circular dual-carriageway route around Norwich.

Tthe NDR opened to traffic in April 2018, but some residents of villages including Ringland and Weston Longville regularly report frustrations with traffic issues.

Dom and Jane are housemates living near Ringland who are desperate for a solution.

"A nightmare," Dom said of the congestion. "You get people here, queues back, shouting and swearing, littering – I mean chucking bags out, alcohol cans.

"It's always been quite busy but lately it has got gridlocked."

Jane added: "If you come out of your drive, they don't let you out, and if you think a car isn't coming and go, a car will come whizzing down and beep us - there will be a shouting match and you don't need it. That's every day.

"The traffic here gets more built up with traffic and lorries, that shouldn't come down here anyway, but they do and get stuck, every day."

The area of Norfolk that would be affected by the Norwich Western Link, which would connect the A1270 NDR and A47 dual carriageways

The county council is looking at a potential single carriageway option and minor changes are also being considered such as improvements to current roads.

Graham Plant, the Conservative-controlled council's cabinet member for highways, told BBC Radio Norfolk: "The area to the west of Norwich has huge traffic congestion and queuing on local roads, which is projected to worsen due to planned housing and employment growth.

"There are delays to journeys to key sites, such as the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the University of East Anglia.

"It's stifling business growth and profitability [through] unreliable journey times and limited access to markets and recruitment.

Graham Plant said there was "a desperate need" to ease congestion to the west of Norwich

"There's poor air quality near to where people live due to the volume of traffic and the road safety issues due to the volume of traffic, including inappropriate roads with tight bends.

"It of course reduces their opportunity to walk and cycle between communities, so it needs a very strong response to that."

Mr Plant also pledged to work with Natural England to "circumnavigate" the bat issues.

To build or not to build?

BBC Radio Norfolk's Andrew Turner spoke to locals as they cooled off in the River Wensum next to Ringland bridge, one of the pinch points that leads to queuing traffic.

Paul Rodrigues, 59, from Felthorpe, visits to kayak with his grandchildren and is in favour of a Western Link solution.

He said: "The traffic has always been a problem. It's possibly got worse but this road isn't fit or designed for the volume of traffic it has.

"So I personally think it is a good idea."

Debbie Dawson, 48, from Fakenham, hopes the project will not be revived.

Debbie Dawson opposes the building of the Norwich Western Link

"I don't like any roads going through anything, there's too many already," she said.

"We were talking about that at the Norfolk Show because we live on a farm, we live in the middle of nowhere and we're surrounded by fields, which is pretty much how I like it."

Firmly in favour though was Emily Mayes, 41, who lives nearby in Drayton.

Emily Mayes wants the Western link plans to be revived

"I work in Hethersett so have to drive through these ways every day and the traffic is just getting worse and worse," she said.

"The current situation is probably making the situation for wildlife and local people a lot worse."

Similarly in no doubt was 82-year-old Barry Longhurst, who lives close by in Taverham.

Barry Longhurst was walking his dog next to the River Wensum in Ringland

He said: "What comes first, humans or bats? I believe that humans should come first and the amount of building work that's going on, there's no improvement to the roads, there should be.

"The Western link will be a help not only for the locals but to those new residents as well."