"Save Carey's Meadow" councillor urges

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 12th Oct 2006

The Leader of Norwich City Council Liberal Democrats, Cllr Hereward Cooke, has launched a campaign to save Carey's Meadow, between Thorpe Road and the River Yare.

At a consultation he attended on the future of the Deal Ground and Utilities Sites at City Hall, he emerged that the open green space of Carey`s Meadow is still under pressure from road development.

Cllr Cooke said: "I was very concerned to discover that one of the access routes to the Utilities Site could be across Carey's Meadow.

"This green lung to the east of the City off Thorpe Road is a charming pasture that is used by local residents for walking and recreation."

At previous consultations, the public had stressed the importance of not using this piece of recreational ground for any development purposes.

Cllr Cooke added: "I agree that access to the Utilities Site is not an easy issue to resolve, but there are alternatives. The main contender is to enter the site underneath the Railway Swing Bridge behind the Football Club off the junction of Carrow and Kerrison Roads."

This has been ruled out by the Highways Department but Cllr Cooke holds that it ought to be reconsidered. "This access is feasible by dint of road management and imaginative engineering," he said.

But it is probably the use to which the Utilities Site will be put which will determine the outcome of the access problem.

One proposal is for a Concert Hall and Convention Centre which would attract a substantial volume of traffic.

Another proposed use is for a bio-mass electricity generating station as developed by UEA`s Carbon Reduction Unit (CRED). This could be a low volume traffic use, especially as one of its purposes is to act as a show-case for the benefits of a carbon-free development, with minimal reliance on motor vehicles. A feasibility study is presently being carried out on this option.

Cllr Cooke is also urging the consultants to the project to consider greater use of the railway access from Thorpe Station. He believes that advice from Network Rail that this is not possible ought to be re-examined.

This issue will not be quickly resolved but Cllr Hereward Cooke believes that the open space of Carey's Meadow is too important to be sacrificed to the road system.