‘No to the Norwich Northern Development Road’ Group

County’s Plan for £106.5 Million NDR Contract is Unacceptable

Say ‘No to NDR’ Group

Media Release – for immediate release - 8 July 2007

Unacceptable and outrageous is the reaction of the No to the NDR Group to Norfolk County Council’s dubious plan to offer a £106.5 million construction contract without competitive tendering.to local engineering firm May Gurney for the proposed Norwich Northern Development Road.

A report to Norfolk’s Cabinet meeting on Monday 9 July recommends signing up May Gurney to design and build the NDR through an existing Strategic Partnership contract as a way to avoid the need for competitive tendering. The Council wants to secure a contractor at this stage as they believe that in the light of rising construction costs pushed up by Olympics, few if any firms are likely to bid for the road in the event of it getting the go-ahead from Government.

However, NNTAG say the proposal amounts to anti-competitive tendering that ignores the value for money test. The fact that the County has taken legal advice suggests doubt on their part.  Furthermore, in the event of the NDR not being built, the contract with May Gurney will undoubtedly include an allowance for compensation to be paid from the local public purse. 

NNTAG say any agreement with May Gurney to peg the NDR cost to £106.5 million won’t stop the cost of road building escalating on a scale revealed by a recent National Audit Office report.(1)  In the space of a few months, the cost of building the NDR in 2010 has gone up from the present day cost of £92 million to £106.5 million (3).  NNTAG believe the final bill could exceed £140 million with Norfolk people paying for the increase..       

NNTAG who have re-named the Northern Distributor Route the “Norwich Northern Development Road” say it is 100% clear from Council documents that its main purpose is to accommodate a new ring of development between the City and line of the new road.  (2)   Development would be required on a massive scale, unprecedented in Norwich’s history, to achieve a £45 million contribution from development and growth, let alone any increase in cost.

Denise Carlo, a spokesperson for No to the NDR Group said:

“This dubious anti-competitive plan shows the lengths to which the County is prepared to go to push through its extravagant ambitions. However, people are waking up to the fact that this is a development road to be paid for by development on a massive scale”.

For further information, contact Denise Carlo tel 504563.

Notes for Editors

1.  “Estimating and monitoring the costs of building roads in England”, National Audit Office (March 2007).  The report concluded that the latest local authority forecasts indicate that costs will increase further with the final cost likely to be 31 per cent more than the initial estimates”.   

2.  The Draft Joint Core Strategy for the Norwich area which is currently being drawn up to form the planning framework for new housing and growth asks whether the NDR should form the outer limit of the built up area should major growth occur in the northern suburbs?

3. The Report to the Cabinet Committee (9 July 2007) states the funding from the NDR will come from three sources:  the regional funding allocation pot (£61million) and the rest from developer contributions and the national Growth Point funding.