Norwich: Norwich Area Transportation Study Area 2

Abstract:

The concept is a result of the review of the Norwich Area Transportation Strategy and it focuses on new development around urban areas which are located in strategic transport corridors with different transport modes as well as encouraging walking, cycling and discouraging car use.The Norwich Area Transportation Strategy implies several criteria of good practice:

• continuous environmental improvement
• contributing to the attainment of several environmental, economic and social goals
• contribute to improving air quality
• contribute to preventing global warming
• contribute to making the transportation system sustainable
• contribute to improving urban design.

Description

The area adopted for the Norwich Area Transportation Study (NATS) area includes Norwich City together with 42 surroundings parishes. In this area the population has increased from 170,000 in the mid 1960s to 230,000. In 1967 there were 33,000 cars in the NATS area; by 1991 the number of private cars had risen to 90,000. Growth in private cars has allowed dispersal of land-use and that dispersal has in turn encouraged the use of cars. Dispersal has also weakened the performance of traditional bus routes. The environmental impacts of transport are very diverse. In Norfolk for example third of the aggregates quarried are supplied to the road construction industry. Hence the growing concern that the present position is not sustainable as a long-term strategy. To deal with these problems the Norfolk had a legacy of earlier plans in the Norwich Area, produced by and for the local authorities. Most of these plans tended to be road-oriented, very ambitious and quite unrealistic. Evidence of increasing congestion and environmental deterioration in the 1980s led the County Council to employ Halcrow Fox & Co. to devise a balanced transport strategy (NATS 2) to take Norwich into the next century.

A key aim of the new concept of the Planning and Transportation Department is to convert the city centre parking to short stay, to assist business and commerce and to encourage walking and cycling. In the long term restraining traffic by charging road users is envisaged.

Looking back, the process was based on multi-modal transport and involved consultation on problems and options. The objectives were:

• to reduce pedestrian/cycle/vehicle conflict
• to provide efficient access for all facets of the city's life
• to conserve and enhance the human and natural environment
• to support the economic activity of the regional centre
• Following the evaluation of 5 options a preferred strategy was recommended, involving:
• a 7/9 site bus-based park and ride system with priority measures to aid bus movements,
• a public transport information system,
• several radial routes
• a Northern Distributor Route
• Environmental Protection Areas, based on the provision of the replacement road space
• traffic management schemes at the most congested intersections within urban area
• a comprehensive network of cycle routes.

Several elements of the preferred NATS 2 Strategy have been implemented, including:

• temporary park and ride sites
• Norwich Southern Bypass (1992) funded by Central Government
• Newmarket Road Bus Lane (1993) has demonstrated the operational advantages to congestion-free working especially to the 17,000 passengers per week who use it
• Airport Park and Ride (1994) the first purpose built (NATS) site
• Cycle Tracks initiated by the City Council and adopted by NATS, have developed more rapidly with increased funding, and bus only lanes are also available to cyclists.

Moreover, the NATS 2 Strategy provided only limited relief from congestion. Thus, the public opinion - as revealed by consultation in early 1994 - on this roll forward of Norwich Area Structure Plan (based on the NATS) led to the need for review. The critical points applied to the environmental assessment - neither NATS nor the road proposals had been subjected to environmental appraisal, sustainability - with growing consensus regarding the need for "sustainable" transport policies. In June 1994, the Planning and Transportation Committee resolved to review NATS, including:

• reassessment of the best way to achieve environmental benefits for the city centre;
• review of junction improvement schemes
• feasibility study of alternatives to address environmental problems in northern suburbs and at eastern and western ends of route and
• scope for further assistance to public transport, cycling and pedestrians.

In reviewing the Norwich Area Transport Strategy (NATS)t, he following issues should included in the concept to enhance environmental efficiency:

• new development should focus around urban areas in strategic transport corridors which offer the choice between different transport modes
• options for pedestrians should be improved including traffic calming, wider pavements, improved lighting and pedestrian-friendly crossings
• convert city centre parking to short stay, to assist business and commerce.

At present, the Norwich package includes £ 2.1 m for more cycling facilities in the next 5 years and £ 1.5 m on traffic management assisting both walking and cycling. Concerning parking regulations at present 40% of all non-residential parking in central Norwich is private and the effectiveness of parking controls is limited. In the long term the most effective way of restraining traffic is to charge road users. This could provide finance for implementing transport policies as well as reducing congestion. However, the legislation is required, the technology is not perfected and there are uncertainties about the effect on business. But this is not a short-term option for any city in Britain, though various studies are in progress. It is clear that neither land-use strategies nor transport policies can readily deliver the scale of change that is required. The real challenge is to change attitudes. Hence the need not only to make non-motorised modes of travel and public transport more attractive, but to increase awareness of the social costs of car travel. Such a campaign is worth considering in Norwich.

Finance

The NATS preferred strategy would have cost around £ 100 million, excluding the Inner Ring Road. By comparison the County Council's capital programme for the whole of Norfolk is only £ 20 million giving priority to Park and Ride. The current transport planning policy includes a Norwich package bid of £ 2,5 million in 1995/6.

Source of Information

M. Shaw, 1995: Review of Transport Strategy for the Norwich Area. In: The European

Governmental Journal, Vol. 3 No., Spring 1995, p. 135f

Contact:

Cities:

Norwich :

Norwich is the seat of the administrative area or county of Norfolk, in the eastern part of England on the banks of the River Wensum. It is a university and cathedral, as well as being an agricultural marketing centre for the surrounding area of East Anglia. For many years, until almost the end of the 18th century, Norwich was an important centre of the textile industry. At the present time the fields of shoe making, silk manufacture, electrical equipment and the food industry are significant. In addition to the University of East Anglia, Norwich School of Art is a nationally known educational establishment.

Population:

Project was added at 01.06.1995
Project was changed at 01.06.1995

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