Library Wood is a name given to the formerly wooded green space, lying between Thorpe Road, Rosary Road, Chalk Hill Road and Aspland Road, Thorpe Hamlet. It has been an important place to local people, both for general walking and relaxation, and as a pleasant alternative to busy streets for getting between Rosary and Thorpe Roads.
The land is the grounds of the old Thorpe Road Lending Library, which closed in the 1980s. Most of the buildings were demolished by 1989 (the last, the former registrar's office, went in 1994) and that built-on area was then used as a temporary car park until the County Council sold the land in 1997.
Norwich City Council prepared Planning Notes for the site, which included a map showing that development should be restricted to the area once built on, and subsequently used as the car park, with the majority of the grounds left as public open space. Whilst these notes were, in the words of the Planning Officer responsible, "not set in stone", the Labour Party later reproduced the map in its Thorpe Hamlet Ward newsletter, thereby leading the local community to believe that it was to be followed by any developer.
Frenbury Properties Ltd. applied for planning permission in May 1998 to build 14 low-density houses on the grounds, and go beyond the line of development in the planning notes. This was approved by Planning Committee in October 1998, with Councillors apparently believing that only than three trees would be lost (although the development would actually have resulted in the loss of at least 23 trees).
Frenbury subsequently sold the land (with planning permission) to Hopkins Homes, who put in an application in March 1999 to build 23 houses at higher density, but still going beyond the line of development on the original planning notes.
Whilst some local people were aware of the first application and objected to it, it was only with this application that a large number of people realised what was proposed. As a result of clear local opposition to the development, the 17th June 1999 Planning Committee resolved to hold a site visit, which took place on 25th June 1999, with 13 of 16 Councillors and 23 members of the public present. It must be remembered that the committee meetings and the site visit were all during the day and several people made the sacrifice of taking time off work in order to be present.
However, despite the clear local feeling about the proposal, the Planning Committee meeting of 1st July 1999 saw Councillors voting by party affiliation, with the Labour Members voting to approve the scheme. The Liberal Democrat opposition mostly voted against. 'Approve' in this case was to "defer and delegate to the Acting Head of Planning", or in other words give the go-ahead in principle and let the Officers fill in the details in negotiation with the developer. A small part of the grounds is to be left as formal open space, with formally designated public footpaths through it. The Officers have negotiated a 'Section 106' agreement with the developer on details of design and payment by the developer for the upkeep of the open space.
The result of Norwich City Council's decision to grant planning consent for 23 houses was the loss of more than 31 trees (including beech, birch, elm, hawthorn, holly, laburnam, lime, sycamore, yew): several mature and well-loved by local people. The small portion of the site to be given over to the City as designated public open space is welcome, but is tiny compared to the de facto open space local people used to enjoy.
The Friends was set up at a meeting on 19thAugust 1999 to articulate the community's viewpoint, both in terms of the design and management of the designated open space, and to attempt to negotiate concerning the rest of the grounds, on which building will shortly be allowed. Unfortunately, the developer, Hopkins Homes, refused to talk to us.
Bernard Shanks was moved as an individual to contact the ombudsman. However, she concluded that the City Council had not done anything beyond its powers. However, it seems that the mere fact of the ombudsman being involved has given the City Planning Department pause for thought on its procedures.
We understand that the 'Section 106 Agreement' was signed on the 29th of November 1999. Two days later, early on the morning of Wednesday 1st December 1999, workmen moved in quietly and fenced off the grounds. Then the chainsaws came out. They began with the trees on the northern part of the grounds - including several of those most important to local people, such as the mature sycamore which formed much of a central point.
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