What exactly is going on in Norfolk?

Speakers preparing for last night's presentations
SNUB held another Public Meeting at Rackheath last night where the audience was brought up to date with the situation regarding the legal challenge.

Speakers also outlined the deficiencies in the consultation process in Norfolk which have affected the Joint Core Strategy, the NDR and the proposed King's Lynn incinerator.

It became more obvious as the evening progressed that some councillors in Norfolk have their own agendas and are pursuing aspirations which are not those of the communities they are supposed to represent. Richard Burton, speaking on behalf of the King's Lynn Incinerator without Incineration campaign group, made that point succinctly through a series of well -researched arguments although the EDP made no reference at all to either him or his presentation.

Andrew Boswell's excellent presentation about the proposed Norwich Northern Distributor Road and the Postwick Hub resulted in a large proportion of the audience completing the postcard to Norman Baker expressing dissatisfaction with the consultation process.

Improprieties concerning the consultation process and practice seems to have been at the heart of most of the presentations that were heard last night and must give rise to concern to anyone who takes more than a cursory glance at what is happening in Norfolk and indeed in the rest of the country. The proliferation of campaign groups and petitions also re-enforces the view that the democratic process is lacking and people want their views not only to be heard but also to be acted upon.

The EDP's account of the evening confirms the view that journalists use every opportunity to put a different spin on what people say! SNUB Chairman, Stephen Heard's throw away comment about sleepless nights which was actually meant as a light-hearted joke and everyone else in the audience must have appreciated that, but the EDP 's reporting conveyed something quite different and implied that he was very worried about potential implications.

As he has done at each public meeting, Stephen used the opportunity to ask the audience once again whether they were still willing to support SNUB and, once again, received an overwhelmingly positive response. It is disappointing, as one member of the audience pointed out, that a lot of people think that the proposals for massive development to the North East of Norwich have gone away. SNUB and its supporters still have a lot of work to do but in the knowledge that they, at least, are representing local people.

The presentations will be made available on our website at a later date.

4 comments:

  1. I thought that the speakers were very informative last night. Richard Burton gave a good talk on the lack of democracy and downright lies peddled by Norfolk County Council. Quite shameful. Just how do they get away with it? It is scandalous.

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  2. As a local resident, I would like to thank all the members of SNUB who have worked tirelessly over the past 3 years and who continue to do so in order to try and save the local people from the potential disaster that a huge development would bring.
    SNUB do all of this in their own time and pay for all the costs themselves, unlike the councils who pay themselves out of our rate money.
    In particular we all deeply indebted to the chairman of SNUB Mr Stephen Heard who has placed himself at such personal risk on behalf of us all.
    I hope that everyone like myself will send in a donation to help Mr Heard fight for us. SNUB are the voice of the overwhelming majority of local people who have been continually ignored by our Councils.

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  3. Little Plumstead3 October 2011 at 17:56

    Shame no-one from Broadland came - I would have liked to have vented my anger after hearing what has been going on.

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  4. And now Section 25 has been abandoned - it seems both the government and the council are intent on destroying this part of Norfolk.

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