Letter to EDP

01603 722581                                                                                  Border Lodge

Station Road

Salhouse

NR13 6NY

13^th Oct 2011

The Letters Editor

EDP

Prospect House

Rouen Road

Norwich

NR1 1RE

Dear Sir,

Two recent articles in the EDP have summarised the community campaign that Stop Norwich Urbanisation has been running now for the last 4 years.

In his column on Weds 12^th Oct Michael Innes eloquently put the case for a housing growth strategy that supports local communities and in particular the negative impact that the Joint Core Strategy will have on the market towns South and West of Norwich.  Whilst the SNUB campaign has concentrated on the North East growth triangle we share the same sentiments expressed by Michael and the impact the JCS will have on Rackheath, Salhouse, Wroxham and other communities in the area.

Likewise your front page story today (Thursday 13^th Oct) also reinforces the need for any housing strategy to support existing market towns and for any new homes to be dispersed around the existing communities of the county thus bringing inward investment that will provide the lifeline that existing businesses need to survive.  Our SNUB campaign has been steadfast in calling for a dispersal option to provide the necessary new homes (with a much reduced quantity than the 37,000 called for in the JCS) in existing communities rather than the over reliance of continually building on to the outskirts of the City.

A good example of this would be the 80+ homes in the planning pipeline for Salhouse, which would provide a welcomed influx of new families to the village on land that is not in use for agriculture.  These new arrivals would bring welcome business for the pub, post office, hairdressers and other small businesses in the village.  If this level of development were matched on a pro rata basis in similar villages and market towns across the county we would guarantee the survival of these communities and prevent the forced migration of families into monolithic housing estates on the edge of a four-lane dual carriageway. 

Lets hope that we are successful in our legal challenge of the JCS and that the result of the High Court case scheduled for 6^th Dec is the moratorium that Michael calls for.

Yours faithfully

Stephen Heard

Chair Stop Norwich Urbanisation (SNUB)