News on NWL Initial Views

We have today (Friday 5 July) published a preferred route recommendation for the Norwich Western Link.

The County Council wants to provide a higher standard connection between the western end of Broadland Northway (formerly the NDR) and the A47 to significantly improve travel between these two major roads. There is strong support from the public, the business community, emergency services, local councils and MPs for a link road to be created, which is needed to tackle traffic congestion, rat-running and delays to journeys on minor roads to the west of Norwich.

Late last year, the County Council published a shortlist of four potential road options for the Norwich Western Link and carried out a public consultation on these options between November 2018 and January 2019.

Having considered the consultation responses alongside other crucial information, such as transport benefits, environmental effects, value for money and impacts on local communities, we have recommended Option C , a new 3.9 mile dual carriageway road, as the best overall solution and preferred route for the Norwich Western Link.

Option C would link from the roundabout at the western end of Broadland Northway and extend for around 350 metres along the A1067 Fakenham Road before turning in a south-westerly direction via a new junction. The road would cross the River Wensum on a viaduct and then continue at or near ground level for the remainder of its length. It would link to the A47 via a new junction at Wood Lane (B1535), which forms part of Highways England’s plan to dual the A47 between North Tuddenham and Easton. Please see the attached map which shows the route.

We have recommended Option C as the preferred route as it balances all of the issues that the project needs to address, including limiting environmental impacts, having a high cost-to-benefit ratio, reducing congestion and rat-running on existing roads, minimising the impact on communities and properties, and receiving considerable support through our recent consultation.

We’re committed to creating this road in an environmentally responsible way and are aiming to achieve ‘biodiversity net gain’ by, for example, creating new habitats and including features such as green bridges. And one of the Norwich Western Link’s project objectives is to encourage people to shift the way they travel to use more sustainable forms of transport, such as walking, cycling and public transport. Taking traffic off the existing road network will help with this, but we’ll also work to develop complementary transport measures that will support this ambition once the preferred route has been agreed.

It’s important to say that at this stage the preferred route is only a recommendation. Councillors on the County Council’s Cabinet will meet on Monday 15 July to discuss the contents of the report and will be asked to agree a preferred route for the Norwich Western Link. We’ll let you know the outcome of this meeting and next steps for the project on 15 July.

You can read the full report on the Norwich Western Link that our councillors are considering at the Cabinet meeting, as well as further information such as questions and answers, on our website at www.norfolk.gov.uk/nwl .