The correspondence highlights the national significance of the devastating environmental impacts of the proposed road and asks that the planning application is decided by national Government.
This move follows a high-profile campaign against the road led by a coalition of local and national organisations, which resulted in over 4,600 objections against the road being submitted to Norfolk County Council during the public consultation which ended last week.
During the planning consultation, Norfolk Wildlife Trust sent a strongly worded objection to Norfolk County Council, outlining its concerns for the area’s wildlife and landscapes including habitats such as woodland, wetlands and rare chalk rivers, as well as the UK’s largest-known community of rare and legally protected barbastelle bats.
In their letter to the Secretary of State, Norfolk Wildlife Trust highlights that the proposal to build a 6km dual carriageway across one of the finest landscapes in Norfolk is ‘the most ecologically damaging planning application they have seen in Norfolk in decades.’
Norfolk Wildlife Trust CEO, Eliot Lyne, goes on to say that the development ‘will have impacts of national significance which have the potential to directly conflict with national policy’ and that ‘there is a clear need for the Application to be properly scrutinised at a national inquiry and for the Application to be taken out of the applicant local planning authority’s hands.’
