News on NWL Initial Views

As is customary at this point in January, I'll begin by saying happy new year and hope 2019 has got off to a good start for you.

Our Norwich Western Link options consultation has made the transition from the old year to the new and more than 600 of you have now told us what you think of our four route options to improve travel between the A47 and Broadland Northway (aka the NDR).

There isn't long left to respond to the consultation now - only two weeks. So if you haven't responded already, or you know someone who wants to respond but hasn't got around to it yet, please make sure you do before midnight on Friday 18 January.

I'm going to launch into my 'why it's important to take part in the consultation' rallying cry now, stand by.

First of all, it's very important to us that we understand any preferences, concerns or priorities you want us to take into account when we are identifying a preferred route for the Norwich Western Link later this year. And it's also an opportunity to tell us about any relevant information you think we should consider before we carry out more detailed work on the preferred route alignment. And finally, we will consider all the responses we receive, so the time you take to give us your thoughts will be time well-spent, and very much appreciated to boot.

We also have some more consultation events coming up before the consultation ends - for the uninitiated, these involve a group of staff involved in the project touring around venues in Norfolk with displays showing information about the options and Norwich Western Link project as a whole. They're an opportunity to view the information in person, ask any questions you have and respond to the consultation then and there if you like.

Next week we're at Aylsham Town Hall on Tuesday (8 January), Hellesdon's Diamond Jubilee Lodge on Thursday (10 January) and Great Witchingham Village Hall on Friday (11 January). All of these events will run between 2 and 8pm.

We really enjoy meeting people at the events so it would be great to see some of you next week if you can make it and want to have a chat about what we're consulting on. As ever, please help us spread the word about them by telling anyone who might be interested.