Green Belt for Norwich
Amazingly, there is currently no officially designated Green Belt around Norwich to help protect our green spaces and open countryside from excessive, inappropriate and unnecessary development. There are currently hundreds of planning applications to build thousands of houses on green field sites around the periphery of one of England’s most important historic cities. We all benefit from the rural open character of the hinterland around this fine City and its loss will be a tragedy for us all. That’s why CPRE Norfolk feels strongly that we must show Government how important it is to us and why it needs better protection.
Data on household projections by the Office for National Statistics demonstrates that the number of new houses provided for in local plans greatly exceed requirements. CPRE Norfolk believes that where there is a proven need for new houses, brownfield sites should be considered first, as they are less damaging to the countryside, create less of a carbon footprint, plug into existing infrastructure, are more convenient places to live and help keep the local economy thriving.
As our local authorities begin the process of reviewing the recently adopted local plans for Norwich and its surrounding districts with the likelihood that they will have to accommodate even more growth beyond 2026 until 2036 on top of what we already consider to be excessive growth, it is now more urgent than ever that Norwich has a Green Belt in place to protect the setting of this historic city and the countryside from the onslaught of never ending development and the consequent urbanisation of this rural county.
We have launched our #GreenBeltforNorwich Petition on Change.org – please sign, share and spread the word! The more people who sign, the greater our chances of success.
Update 1st March 2018
Our proposal for a green belt around Norwich, made up of green ‘wedges’ is published today. Thank you to Jeremy Baverstock for producing this. This has been covered in today’s EDP read here.
