The debate about a controversial road plan continued today with residents telling planning officials they had more to lose than previous objectors around the corner.
Badger Building’s plan for 96 homes and an access road off Church Lane in Gorleston has triggered an avalanche of objections with more than 1000 people signing a petition against it.
Some 40 people met with planners at Great Yarmouth town hall today to add to the weight of public concern over the scheme.
The original plan offered 71 homes with access off East Anglian Way.
Because of concerns about access and traffic there the developer has come back with another proposal, which has met with even more worry about loss of green space, safety, traffic, the effect of their quality of life, and house prices.
MORE: Outcry over builder’s plan to run an access road to homes across a popular parkPlanning manager Dean Minns sympathised with their concerns which he said were all valid material considerations which would be fed back to Badger Building and taken into account as part of the consultation.
But he said there were difficult decisions to be made all across the borough and that too many refusals could lead to even worse outcomes for households as the government looked to meter out penalties.
He said the borough had to build 7,200 homes by 2030, amounting to a build rate of 420 a year.
However in the last 20 years the council had only ever once topped 300.
He said: “Each year as we go along we have fallen behind. It is very difficult for a lot of reasons and very difficult for council’s making decisions.”
People at the meeting said there were other ways in and out of the proposed estate which would not affect residents in Recreation Road and other streets nearby.
The roads were already clogged with public buses and college traffic and sometimes grid-locked making it an issue for emergency vehicles.
There was also criticism over the lack of publicity about the planning application and the amount of time people had to object, with calls for the period to be extended.
One person pointed out that the road plan affected the busiest area on the recreation ground which celebrates its 130th birthday next year.
They also said the land swap was unequal.
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