Socially Conscious Capital’s Latest drafting of the truth.

SCC's New claims

In the last few days Socially Conscious Capital (SCC) have re-emerged with 
further claims. These they hope will convince all that making a quick buck 
by developing an unwanted and unnecessary housing estate over 
large areas of this much loved County Wildlife Site is the best future for Thorpe Woodlands.

Last November they tried to convince us that the best way of preserving and
protecting this wood was for them to be allowed to build over many acres of it
(see Rock's Roadshow hits town).  However, it is hard
to convince people that such a proposal can be anything other than nonsense when
your plans are opposed not only by the overwhelming majority of local people, as
demonstrated in the response to Broadland District Council's
consultation (in which over 99% of the record-breaking 2440 people who
responded opposed any development), but also by local councillors and conservation
bodies such as the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, RSPB, Campaign to protect Rural
England, Natural England and The Norwich Society.

Therefore SCC’s latest ploy is to claim that some of these bodies have now
seen the light and don’t oppose their plans.

SCC claim that Natural England “have not opposed our proposals” and have
told them their development plans are a “good start”. Happily this is far from the truth.
Natural England has made clear their position as set out in their most recent
formal statement:

"Natural England supports the identification of Thorpe 
Woodlands as an area of multi functional open space for wildlife and recreation. 
It should not be taken forward as a development allocation in the AAP."

On the 26th February we spoke to Natural England who have confirmed that they
continue to stand by the above statement and have written a “strongly worded
letter” to SCC in respect of the edited comments attributed to Natural England
on SCC’s website. We understand that SCC have now apologised to Natural England
and has retracted their statements.

SCC also claims that The Norwich Society is thawing; but once again the
truth is very different. The Norwich Society has made it clear that: "Thorpe Woodlands
are not suitable for residential development: this is the unanimous view of the
Environmental Committee".
The Chair of the Norwich Society was happy to confirm that they continue to support
the protection of the woods in their entirety and provided us with a copy of a letter
they had sent to the Chairman of Broadlands Planning committee which states:

"The Trustees of the Norwich Society join me to express their deep concern about 
plans to build new housing on the three pieces of woodland known collectively as 
Thorpe Woodlands. They are popular quiet, green areas 
close to dense population. It is essential that this green lung remains to 
refresh the citizens of surrounding Thorpe, Thorpe End and Dussindale. It should 
be an oasis in the proposed development Growth Triangle of north-east 
Norwich.Any roads should be carefully planned to skirt all three woods."

Last but not least...

SCC also claim that Norfolk County Council’s Green Infrastructure Co-ordinator Dr David White is sympathetic to the idea of building a housing estate on a County Wildlife Site. SCC state that Dr White thinks there may be  "a case could be made for permitting some development to facilitate the long-term recreational use of the remaining parts of the site". This quote is taken out ofthe context of a report issued by Dr White at the end of last year, in which he in factconcludes that:

Dr David Whites' actual conclusions

4.1 Having scrutinised the submitted documents and the other available
information, I conclude that large-scale housing development in the Thorpe
Woodlands would not be appropriate as the ecological impacts would be too great.
However without detail on proposed housing numbers/area, I remain to be
convinced that some small-scale housing would be appropriate either. This is
based on:

• the ecological value of the site (CWS standard) and importance of the site for
ecological connectivity;
• the fact that developing on a CWS would be contrary to local and national
policy and that there would be a real danger of undermining the CWS system that
has been so beneficial in protecting the most important wildlife sites in a
county context;
• the question as to if it would actually be physically possible to compensate
for the loss of ecological connectivity in any meaningful way (as opposed to
compensation for loss of, or adverse impacts on, within-site habitats); and
• the uncertainty of the benefits of using the approach of building some houses
to secure informal public access when other options with potentially fewer
adverse impacts seem to be available and could be explored in greater detail.
4.2 The benefit of having the site for public access in the Growth Triangle is
obvious, but at this stage and based on the documents submitted, I would
hesitate to conclude that building on part of the site is the best way of
addressing this.


So despite SCC's best efforts, the truth is, that in addition to the 2440 local people who opposed any development...

Norfolk Wildlife Trust states that: "In our view Racecourse Plantation and
Belmore and Browns Plantations should be retained in their entirety as key
biodiversity assets and part of the critical natural capital, within the growth
triangle and no part of this woodland should be zoned for development".

The RSPB’s view is "Thorpe Woodlands should be retained as open space and
as a key area in the Growth Triangle’s green infrastructure provision. We are
surprised that housing development is even being considered for this site".

CPRE Norfolk "supports the Friends of Thorpe Woodlands and their campaign to
protect Racecourse Plantation, and adjacent woodland from development".

Dr David White Norfolk County council concludes that "large-scale housing
development in the Thorpe Woodlands would not be appropriate as the ecological
impacts would be too great. However without detail on proposed housing
numbers/area, I remain to be convinced that some small-scale housing would be
appropriate either".

The Norwich Society is "of the opinion that Thorpe Woodlands are not suitable
for residential development".

So it appears that SCC are simply twisting words to
suit their preferred meaning. Rather than Natural England and other bodies seeing the
benefits of building over a much loved woodland County Wildlife Site they are in
fact as opposed to it as ever and like the local people who love it realise the
importance of preserving it for future generations.