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26 March 2009: Norwich Evening News

Parish council remains neutral on eco-town
by Kim Briscoe

With plans on the cards for a new 3,400-home eco-community in Rackheath, the village's leaders are trying to do their best to protect the interests of residents.

While a final decision has not yet been taken on whether the development will actually happen, Rackheath Parish Council has recognised that it must prepare for every eventuality.

Here the council sets out what it is trying to do to best serve its community and why villagers should join its steering group.

“It is becoming increasingly obvious that, as a result of government pressure to build many more homes around Norwich, Rackheath and Sprowston have been identified as prime locations for considerable housing growth.

“The proposals clearly anticipate that over the next two or three decades Rackheath will become much bigger. The proposed eco-development, on what was the Second World War air base, will be a part of that overall growth.

“It is, of course, still possible that some or all of the growth proposals for Rackheath will fail to get the necessary approval. That is also true of the proposed eco-development.

“But while it remains open for residents to seek to prevent this development it would be unwise for the parish council to assume that protests will succeed in preventing it.

“It might be prevented; but it might not. Given the possibility that it will get the green light the parish council has a clear duty to consider very carefully how such a large addition to the population of Rackheath can be successfully integrated into our community so that, if it comes, we can create a single, united community.

“It is in the best interests of the residents of Rackheath, both those already living here and those who might come to live here, that we avoid ending up with a divided Rackheath. This can best be avoided by ensuring that steps are taken very early in the whole process to find ways of achieving successful integration. That is a major challenge.

“You might have understood from recent press coverage that the parish council now accepts that the eco-development will definitely go ahead and is therefore simply going along with it. That is not true. Nor is it true that we are in favour of it, or against it.

“As a parish council we are not allowed legally to take sides in that debate; we must stay strictly neutral. Nor do we yet know whether it will go ahead or not.

“All we are doing is taking steps to ensure that, if it does happen, we get the very best outcome we can for the residents. Because things are moving rapidly we will forfeit any chance of achieving that if we do not start now; that is the only reason we are doing what we are doing.

“To help us meet the challenge we have formed a committee and are enlisting the help of some members of our community who, we believe, can bring particular skills or experience to the table.

“Each member of the committee, which reports to the parish council and takes its instructions from it, is required to set aside their own views about the development and to concentrate solely on putting forward ideas on what we will need, in terms of facilities, services, structure and people, to achieve success.

“If any resident has any ideas they wish to put forward we would be very glad to hear from them. We would ask, however, that you respect the fact that the request for ideas relates to how we can make it work to everyone's best advantage; we cannot engage in discussion about whether the development should go ahead at all.

“Only by staying neutral can the parish council get the best for the people of Rackheath; and that is our function.”