Comment

Representation ID: 22842

Received: 16/03/2020

Respondent: Crown Point Estate

Agent: Miss Kate Wood

Paragraph 54 of the Draft Plan states:
“Greater Norwich is key to the region's economy with considerable potential for growth in world class knowledge intensive jobs. Strategic employment sites and competitive land and business lets, mainly those in and around the Norwich and Wymondham area, support a globally significant growth axis within the Cambridge Norwich Tech Corridor.”

The Greater Norwich economy includes life-sciences, agri-tech, IT, leisure and culture, and retail. The Greater Norwich City Deal 2013 focusses on science, technology and advanced manufacturing. Paragraph 60 of the Draft Plan notes that “Rural enterprises are important to the local economy and home working is increasing in significance. The proportion of micro-businesses employing up to nine people is above the national average in Broadland and South Norfolk.”

We consider that whilst the GNLP emphasises the growth of hi-tech and food-tech industries, it has not addressed the low-tech sector. Whilst rural businesses are acknowledged as important to the local economy, we are concerned that this acknowledgement is not translated into policy later in the GNLP. We discuss this further, later in this representation.

Norwich City Centre has largest concentration of employment in Greater Norwich and is a focus for further employment growth. Paragraph 78 of the Draft Plan notes that successful modal shift has already been achieved through previous Transport for Norwich programme, with a 375,000 increase in Norwich bus journeys. This requires building on, with further improvement of the Park and Ride network which will allow capacity to rise in line with demand as more journeys switch to bus and as the growth strategy comes to fruition. The Draft Plan is constrained by a lack of detail on the Transport for Norwich review. This will include the Park and Ride network. We are promoting the Loddon P&R site, located on the only major transport route into Norwich without P&R facilities, as part of the solution to ongoing strategies to achieve sustainable transport and modal shift.