More Bonkers Thinking!

We heard yesterday (31^st Oct 2011) that the Government is going to invest taxpayers’ money into local regions in order to kick-start the economy.  Great news and locally it seems that Lotus will benefit to the tune of £10.4m from the regional growth fund with the prediction that this will generate 800 new jobs in the local supply chain and according to a Lotus spokesperson “considerable number of new jobs at Lotus itself over the next 6 to 8 years”.

If this investment is combined with the £26m secured by the Norwich Research Park and the now inevitable dualling of the A11 then the prospect for the South of the city looks extremely good.  There is a real opportunity to develop the area into a hub of high technology in the way that Cambridge has been developed in the past.

Of course all these new jobs will need new people and these new people will need new houses to live in! 

I know lets put these houses in the North East growth triangle of Norwich and give all of these new people the task of commuting across the city to get to their new jobs. 

The journey from Station Road, Salhouse to Hethel engineering is a round trip of 40 miles.  Even if the NDR were to go ahead it would only account for 8 miles of that commute! 

Well say the GNDP they will be able to catch a bus!  At the moment that would take about 90 minutes one way with a 123 bus from Salhouse to the city and then a 10A bus to Wreningham and a walk of 1.2 miles to get to work.  At least the commuters would be able to get some liquid refreshment at the Sole and Heel or the Bird in Hand!

On the same day we heard that East Anglia Offshore Wind are predicting that the ports of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth will support hundreds of new jobs in both construction and operations.  These jobs are predicted to start in 2015 and be sustainable over decades as the area builds a reputation for Renewable Energy expertise with predictions that the area will be the new base for manufacturing as the Midlands were in the mid 20^th century.

Of course all these new jobs will need new people and these new people will need new houses to live in! 

I know lets put these houses in the North East growth triangle of Norwich and give all of these new people the task of commuting across the county to get to their new jobs. 

The journey from Station Road, Salhouse to Great Yarmouth Port is a round trip of 40 miles down the notorious Acle straight.  Even if the NDR were to go ahead it would only account for 8 miles of that commute!  It is another 24 miles to Lowestoft i.e. a round trip of 64 miles from Salhouse to Lowestoft.

Get the train we here GNDP say!  Well the train does go from Salhouse to Great Yarmouth and this is the timetable, which for a 0900 to 1700 day job, means a total daily commute of 3 _1/2 hours plus the walk at each end.  This would mean leaving the house at 0700 each morning and then returning about 8.30 in the evening.  Oh and the cost will be around £12 a day or £60 per week.

 

Depart	Arrive	Duration		Depart	Arrive	Duration
07:17 Salhouse	07:32 Norwich	00h 15		18:47 Great Yarmouth	19:25 Norwich	00h 38
08:09 Norwich	08:43 Great Yarmouth	00h 34		19:55 Norwich	20:05 Salhouse	00h 10

The same can be said for Lowestoft.

So there you have it a classic example of disjointed thinking whereby all of the new jobs and investment are miles away from the majority of the new houses called for in the Joint Core Strategy!  BONKERS.