Elections 2021: Norfolk candidates split on Norwich bypass 'missing link'

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BypassImage source, NDR
Image caption,

The Norwich Western Link road would link the Northern Distributor Road and the A47

Candidates in Norfolk are divided over a £153m extension to Norwich's bypass.

The Norwich Western Link road - dubbed the "missing link" by supporters - would link the A47 to the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR).

But the route has been opposed by groups such as Extinction Rebellion, which has staged protests.

The road was approved by Conservative-run Norfolk County Council in 2019, but on 6 May all seats on the authority are up for election.

The planned link road would go from the roundabout at the western end of the NDR, formally known as the Broadland Northway, and across the River Wensum on a viaduct.

It would then join the A47 at an improved junction at Wood Lane near Honingham, which forms part of Highways England's plan to dual the A47 between North Tuddenham and Easton.

Image caption,

Bill Cleyndert said the current bypass had cut congestion and the new road would do the same

Bill Cleyndert, who owns a furniture-makers in Fakenham, said the current NDR had made "a huge different" to his business.

The bypass also had environmental benefits as his deliveries were "not contributing to the congestion in Norwich anymore", he added.

Mr Cleyndert said the new road would help his business as "most of our work goes down to London", and cut congestion further.

Conservative Martin Wilby, who is standing in East Depwade, said the road was "a priority for this council and has been for some time".

He described it as a "key piece of infrastructure for us here in Norfolk and the much wider area as well".

Mr Wilby said he was aware of the environmental issues around the road and would "put in the appropriate mitigation steps in place".

By improving walking and cycling on nearby roads and putting in green bridges it would "make it a better place for all", he added.

Image caption,

Part of the land the road would go through is woodland in the Wensum Valley

Liberal Democrat Dan Roper, a candidate for Hevingham and Spixworth, said it was "abundantly clear we need transport solutions for the north-west of Norwich".

He said the current roads and bridges in the area where the new road would go were "fragile".

Mr Roper said "the route that has been chosen seems to have the least impact" on the environment.

But he was critical of the Conservative administration on the council, saying it was "poor at getting money for the county".

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get it built," he added.

Image caption,

Part of the woodland the new road will cut through is owned by Iain Robinson, who bought it in 2015

Iain Robinson, a lecturer at the University of East Anglia, owns some of the woodland along the proposed route.

He said the area was "a vibrant living place and to think of it just being covered in tarmac and becoming a way of people getting slightly quicker from A to B, that's devastating".

The road would create "noise and pollution" and create an "artificial barrier" to wildlife, he added.

Image caption,

Clockwise from top left, Conservative Martin Wilby, Liberal Democrat Dan Roper, Labour's Steve Morphew, and the Green Party's Andrew Boswell

Andrew Boswell from the Green Party, who is standing in Aylsham, agreed the new road would cause "ecological damage".

He said: "We've learnt for Covid we need [woodland] for people's wellbeing.

"It would be utterly awful to destroy this environment."

He also said it would leave debt for future generations and transport planning in Norfolk had been "badly done for several decades".

Mr Boswell said there should be greater walking, cycling and use of public transport, and vehicles from outside Norfolk should be charged for using the roads.

Image caption,

The new road will be linked by the roundabout near Taverham

Labour's Steve Morphew, a candidate in Catton Grove, said the party was not "anti-roads", but the new road would not "achieve the things we want [it] to achieve".

He said: "In general roads are a bad thing for the climate, a bad thing for the environment and they don't automatically deliver environmental benefits.

"It's going to be hugely expensive, massively damaging to the environment and wildlife and it is just a bad thing."

He described the road as "more of a vanity project than anything useful".

Full details of candidates for Norfolk County Council can be found on its website, external.

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