Campaigners win battle against Hewett playing fields development

The company hoping to build a private leisure centre, nursing home and nursery on a quarter of the Hewett School playing fields has withdrawn its planning application. Local residents and Green Councillors were preparing their case against the development for a Public Inquiry when they heard the plans had been withdrawn.

"Before we heard this news, I had been visiting local residents to inform them of how to comment on the plans ahead of the Public Inquiry. An overwhelming majority of people I spoke to were against the development, because of the need to protect green space in the area, concerns about the extra traffic the development would have generated locally and the believe that an expensive private leisure centre would not be of benefit to the local community."

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Defend council housing: campaign victory

In June, it was announced that 87% of Norwich council tenants and leaseholders responding to a council survey had backed the option of the council retaining ownership and control of its housing stock. City Councillors have now unanimously voted to do just that.

Councillor Chris Hull said: “I am delighted that Norwich has resisted attempts by the Labour Government to force councils to sell off their homes. Stock retention had the clear support of tenants and leaseholders and was supported by the Green Party from the outset. It is the best way to ensure this affordable housing remains available for future generations. We now need a commitment from the Government that all councils will receive adequate funding for housing improvements, regardless of which option was chosen.”

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Decision on Wood Street green space

The Green Party has recently been working with residents of Wood Street and Kingsley Road to campaign against plans for garages to be built on a green space between Wood Street and St Stephens Road. Councillor Adrian Ramsay joined some local residents at a City Council Planning Committee meeting to try to persuade members of the committee to refuse permission for the garages.

"There is plenty of parking space on the site, so there was no reason why the garages could not have been left out of the plans and this important green space protected."

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Greens Concerned about Norfolk Employment Growth Study

The Green Party has expressed concern at the Norfolk Employment Growth Study commissioned by local councils. The strategy is based on plans for a large-scale increase in the number of homes and jobs in Norwich and in the city’s population. The Green Party believes that over-heating the city’s economy in this way would harm the environment and the quality of life of local residents.

Councillor Rupert Read commented: “The concentration of development in the west of Norwich in recent years has massively increased traffic levels in the Earlham Road area. New development needs to be more evenly spread within the country, the county and the city. The ‘Growth Strategy’ would result in urban sprawl across the city’s greenbelt. The main priority for development in Norwich should be affordable housing on brownfield sites.”

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Park Lane pavement obstruction

Since February, some metal fencing has been obstructing the pavement on Park Lane (close to Unthank Road). The fencing is blocking nearly half the width of the pavement and is proving particularly problematic for people with pushchairs or in wheelchairs.

Councillor Jessica Goldfinch said: "The fencing is there to protect a fragile wall and the council has said that it will be removed once the wall is repaired. This is taking an unacceptably long time. When we raised the issue at a recent City Council meeting, we were informed that a less obstructive form of fencing for the wall would be installed in the meantime and we are pushing for this to happen as soon as possible.

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Late licences: Greens fight for fair consultation

Under new central government legislation, every pub has the opportunity to apply for a licence to serve alcohol beyond the traditional hours. The Green Party has been issuing letters to people living near to pubs in Town Close ward that have applied for late licences, to ensure residents have the opportunity to comment before the City Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee makes a decision on the application. However, last month it emerged that the council had given incorrect consultation deadlines to residents and councillors for many of the pubs applying for late licenses. The council has since been refusing to accept comments received after the deadline it should have set – even if this deadline was before it informed residents of the late licence application!

For information on the latest situation on any particular pub’s application, please see www.norwich.gov.uk or contact the City Council’s Licensing Section on (01603) 212760 or licensing@norwich.gov.uk. Alternatively, call Chris Hull on (01603) 664928 or e-mail townclose@norwichgreenparty.org.

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Stop Unthank Tesco : campaign update

In March, the City Council Planning Committee unamimously rejected an application by Tesco to build a store on the corner of Unthank Road and Trinity Street. Tesco has now appealed against the decision, and so the Planning Inspectorate will hold a Public Inquiry into the application before making a final decision. The Inquiry is likely to take place for several months.

Plastic bottle banks installed – Councillor Adrian Ramsay writes...

Banks for recycling plastic bottles have recently been installed at Sainsbury’s on Queen’s Road and Waitrose in Eaton. The Green Councillors secured funding for the new banks as part of the negotiations for this year’s City Council budget.

We will continue to lobby for money to fund enough banks to ensure good coverage across the city. We would also like to see plastics included in the doorstep collection service. However, at least there is now a facility for plastic bottle recycling in the City Council area. The LibDem budget proposals did not include any money for plastic bottle recycling. But as a direct result of the Greens holding the balance of power we were able to secure money for these two banks. Another improvement is that residents with green recycling boxes will soon be able to put tins and cans out for collection.

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County Council planning to privatise streetlights

Norfolk County Council is planning to embark on a private finance initiative scheme for maintenance of Norfolk’s streetlights. The scheme would involve half of the county’s streetlights being replaced before the end of their natural life. Green County Councillors are opposing the scheme, arguing that functional streetlights should not be replaced unnecessarily and that private finance initiative schemes prove very costly in the longer term.

The Greens are instead lobbying for the County Council to pilot the fitting of solar panels to streetlights to make use of free, renewable energy form the sun. This initiative is already being trailed elsewhere in the country following proposals by Green Party Councillors.

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Improvements to St Stephen’s subway

A number of residents have contacted the Green Party to request action from the councils to improve lighting and tackle vandalism in the St Stephen’s subway. Green Councillor Chris Hull is pleased to report that the County Council is planning to replace the lights in the subway with a brighter type that is also more resistant to vandals. At the same time, some of the tiling (near to the lights) will also be replaced. This work is due to take place later this year. Councillor Hull has also urged the councils to ensure any graffiti in the subway is removed on a regular basis.

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Contacting Town Close Greens

The Green Party Councillors continue to take up local issues of concern with the Council. If you have anything you would like us to investigate or any questions please contact us:

We would be pleased to hear from you