The Wrong Vision

The strategic Plan which the Councils have produced and which they describe as a Joint Core Strategy has now been approved by the two district Councils, South Norfolk and Broadland. It merely needs the agreement of Norwich City for it to be sealed and submitted to the Government.

But is it a sound strategy?

All the growth will take place in these Districts as they expand into the Green Belt. It is already sucking businesses out of the City Centre. They have created out of town shopping malls and will build endless housing estates. Meanwhile none of the proceeds of this investment will benefit Norwich City which will continue to struggle with all the burdens of maintenance and the historic fabric of the inner city. The only sources of additional income being higher rise buildings, higher charges and grants. A recipe for accelerating decline.

What was needed was a different political solution but the pettiness and self interest of the bureaucracy, the lack of will at County Level and the fudged re-organisation has denied it to us.

The inequity of this will eventually have to be addressed and probably at the expense of residents of the fringe parishes but the lack of vision in our Councils as laid out in this policy is now a new stumbling block.

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