Greens launch 'middle way' campaign on boundaries of unitary Norwich

8 August 2007 - In speeches at the special full Council meeting on the evening of Tuesday 7th August 2007, Green Party City Councillors Adrian Ramsay and Rupert Read launched the Party’s latest campaign: to find a middle way between the current boundaries of the city, which the government has decided do not reflect the urban area of Norwich, and the outermost boundaries that have been suggested by others for the new unitary authority, which the Green Party believes take in far too much of the rural area surrounding the city.

Councillor Adrian Ramsay, Co-ordinator of the Green Group on Norwich City Council, said during the Council meeting, "It is very important that the Boundary Committee gets the boundaries of the new unitary authority right, and that there is a thorough consultation process. The Green Party’s view is that it makes sense for the whole of the urban area to be included in the new Unitary authority because urban Norwich has different needs to rural Norfolk. Equally, it would undermine the arguments for unitary status to include large rural areas inside the new authority – and we also fear that too large a boundary may be seen as justification for lots of building on greenfield sites."

Councillor Rupert Read, lead candidate for the Green Party in the 2009 European elections, added, "You could think of ours as a ‘Goldilocks’ proposal: Not too far out, not too close in, but just right. The current boundary of Norwich is quite obviously too small. It stands to reason that places like Sprowston and Old Catton, which are in practice indistinguishable from the rest of Norwich, should be included within the boundaries of the new unitary authority for Norwich. We should have one Council for one urban area, one city.

"But equally, places such as Horsham, Newton, Spixworth, Taverham, Rackheath, Beeston and the Plumsteads are self-evidently not part of Norwich. We will be working closely with residents in areas such as those to try to ensure that they do not get sucked into the unitary Norwich authority."

Norfolk Green Party invites parishioners outside the Norwich urban area to get in touch, so that common cause can be found in the campaign to get the independent Boundary Committee that will next year set a boundary for the new Norwich Council to set that boundary in the right place: at the edge of the Norwich urban area. Councillor Rupert Read, as a prospective Euro-MP for the area, will be leading the Greens’ effort to ensure that there is adequate consultation in the areas potentially affected, so that the Boundary Committee is well-informed as to where people understand Norwich to start and end. The Greens’ Norfolk County Councillors, Chris Hull and Andrew Boswell, will also be strongly involved in this engagement exercise.

Anyone outside Norwich’s current Council boundaries wishing to work with the Greens on this issue is invited to get in touch: 01603 219294, or greenrupertread@fastmail.fm.