{"id":822063,"date":"2025-01-24T05:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T11:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/bat-concerns-trigger-uncertain-fate-for-norwich-road-scheme\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T05:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T11:14:25","slug":"bat-concerns-trigger-uncertain-fate-for-norwich-road-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/bat-concerns-trigger-uncertain-fate-for-norwich-road-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Bat concerns trigger uncertain fate for Norwich road scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Bat_shutterstock_2257874339.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n

Norfolk County Council has announced that it has withdrawn its planning application for the \u00a3274m Norwich Western Link Road project after being unable to satisfy Natural England on how it will conserve bat populations in the area.<\/p>\n

Graham Plant, council cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, announced the decision to withdraw the application yesterday (21 January).<\/p>\n

He said that in March last year, \u201cdays before [Norfolk County Council\u2019s] planning application was due to be submitted, it became clear that Natural England\u2019s position had changed and we had a significant impediment to delivering the proposed Norwich Western Link\u201d.<\/p>\n

Plant said that in the 10 months since, the council has struggled to find a viable solution that would allow the project to proceed, despite extensive efforts to engage with both Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).<\/p>\n

He added that \u201cserious efforts to find a solution have unfortunately not provided a way forward\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ferrovial UK was awarded a \u00a3107m contract in June 2021 to design and build the road<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The link road aims to alleviate traffic congestion to the west of Norwich with a 6.2km dual carriageway. An outline business case was approved by the Department for Transport (DfT) in October 2023, when the government committed to paying for 80 per cent of the scheme.<\/p>\n

Ferrovial declined to comment when asked by Construction News <\/em>yesterday if it had halted work.<\/p>\n

But speaking to CN <\/em>last year<\/a>, its managing director Karl Goose singled out the Norwich road scheme as a project that aligns with Ferrovial\u2019s strategy of pursuing projects in the \u00a3100m range.<\/p>\n

Goose said that Ferrovial had been in the early contractor involvement phase of a two-stage contract since 2022, though he noted at the time that further progress was \u201csubject to planning approval\u201d.<\/p>\n

Natural England\u2019s objection related to the damage the road will cause to the rare barbastelle bats in the area, according to CN\u2019s <\/em>sister title New Civil Engineer<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

James Marshall, Natural England deputy director for Norfolk and Suffolk, said: \u201cThe proposed route for the Norwich Western Link road would destroy one of the largest remaining populations in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could not see how the proposed road would not destroy the bats\u2019 habitat even if there was mitigation in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Plant said it was \u201cdisappointing\u201d that responses last month from Natural England and its parent government body DEFRA did not answer \u201cspecific questions which we asked\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that the council will write to Natural England again \u201choping to get answers to our unanswered questions but at present, we have exhausted all our options in relation to this\u201d.<\/p>\n

Following this stalemate, the council decided to withdraw the current planning application to enable more focused discussions with the DfT on the future of the Norwich Western Link.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have written to DfT ministers this week to stress that the need to deliver a transport intervention in this area, to tackle existing transport issues and support planned growth, has not changed,\u201d Plant said.<\/p>\n

He added that the Norwich Western Link \u201cremains a priority project for this council\u201d.<\/p>\n

A DfT spokesperson told CN<\/em>: \u201cWe are committed to improving transport across the country, including Norwich, to boost growth and opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to work with Norfolk County Council on measures to improve congestion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Ben Vogel<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Rob Hakimian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norfolk County Council has announced that it has withdrawn its planning application for the \u00a3274m Norwich Western Link Road project after being unable to satisfy Natural England on how it will conserve bat populations in the area. Graham Plant, council cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, announced the decision to withdraw the application yesterday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":822064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30686,25181],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-822063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-concerns","8":"category-trigger"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}