Criticism of £4.4m Norwich Heartsease roundabout revamp plan

The Norwich Society has joined Norwich Cycling Campaign in pouring scorn on plans for Heartsease roundabout.

The society said Norfolk County Council's proposals will not encourage people to swap cars for walking or cycling and will make "little genuine improvement".

The roundabout is one of the trickiest to negotiate in the city and it is difficult for pedestrians to cross at the busy junction, where Plumstead Road intersects with St William's Way, Heartsease Lane and Harvey Lane.

The Heartsease roundabout (Image: Denise Bradley)

The county council's proposals, to be paid for using a slice of the £32m Transforming Cities cash County Hall was awarded, include:

• The road layout on both the roundabout and its approaches will be turned into single lanes.
• New zebra crossings on all ‘arms’ of the roundabout, including one to replace an existing signal crossing on the northern end of Harvey Lane.
• New shared-use paths for cyclists and pedestrians around all arms of the roundabout, with other new footpaths and cycleways.
• Proposals for the Heartsease roundabout (Image: Norfolk County Council)

Consultation over the proposals started in November and continues until next week, with Norwich Cycling Campaign saying the plans "fall well short" of making the crash blackspot safer.

The Norwich Society's strategic planning and transport committee has responded to the consultation saying it cannot support the plans.

Matthew Williams, from the Norwich Society (Image: Matt Williams)

Matthew Williams, from the society, said: "They do not significantly  encourage active travel and provide little genuine ‘improvement in crossing facilities for those walking and cycling in the area’, which is supposed to be the aim of the scheme."

He said it was "disquieting" that a mooted Dutch-style roundabout, where cyclists and pedestrians would have been given greater priority, had been ditched, because the council said modelling showed it would have caused "unacceptable delays" for drivers.

He said: "The disappointing proposals, as they stand, are a serious missed opportunity.

"Taking into account the highly disruptive impacts during the course of implementation, we would question whether the proposed scheme is worth doing at all."

Heartsease roundabout in Norwich (Image: Simon Finlay)

The council said the proposals aim to improve safety for all roundabout users within the available space and that designs had been drafted through close working with Active Travel England.

Public consultation runs at www.norfolk.gov.uk/heartseaseroundabout until January 3.