Highways England are consulting on their proposal to upgrade the A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham. Their proposals will create a new dual carriageway that will relieve congestion, provide extra road space, improve safety and help provide a free-flowing network.
This statutory consultation is your opportunity to express your views on the design of the proposed scheme in advance of our application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to authorise construction of the project.
A DCO is a type of planning application, which is needed for a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). Following the submission of the DCO application, the Planning Inspectorate will hold a public examination of the application before making a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport who will decide whether or not the project scheme should go ahead.
Businesses, local authorities, public bodies, road users and the communities and neighbouring areas can play an important part in the development of the scheme design. Your feedback is therefore essential to this consultation as it will enable Highways England to improve the scheme before they submit an application for the project.
The A47 trunk road forms part of the strategic road network and provides for a variety of local, medium and long distance trips between the A1 and the east coast. The corridor connects the cities of Norwich and Peterborough, the towns of Wisbech, Kings Lynn, Dereham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft and a succession of villages in what is largely a rural area.
The Blofield to North Burlingham section of the A47 is an important, well-used stretch of road for those living and working in the area. Sandwiched between two dual carriageway sections, this stretch of the road acts as a bottleneck; resulting in congestion and leading to longer and unreliable journey times. The Highways England studies have identified that the single carriageway section of the road no longer meets the needs of its users. The section also has a poor safety record, with a total of 40 collisions recorded on the section between 2013 and 2017. With further planned growth, including the ‘City Deal’ for Norwich, including over 50,000 new jobs and 100,000 homes, it is likely that these issues will only be increased.
Have your say by completing the online survey now.
The closing date for responses to this consultation is Friday 19 October 2018.
