Key Impacts of Reaching 750 Signatures
Mandatory Scrutiny Attendance: A senior council officer must attend a public meeting of the Scrutiny Committee to give evidence. This is no longer optional once the threshold is verified.
Public Questioning: At this meeting, committee members will ask questions, but you (as the lead petitioner) also have the right to ask a question and suggest specific questions to the chair of the committee.
Cabinet Involvement: The Scrutiny Committee can also request that the relevant Cabinet member (such as the Portfolio Holder for Planning) attend alongside the senior officer to answer questions.
Formal Accountability: The officer must explain their actions, progress on the issue, or the specific advice they have given to elected members regarding the motorbike park changes.
Email:
To the Norwich City Council Planning and Conservation Department,
I am writing as the lead petitioner, Mrs Anna Wright, for the "Stop Norwich Motorbike Park Changes" campaign. I wish to formally notify the Council that our petition has now gained at this moment 936 signatures from residents strongly opposed to any alterations to the St Peters Street facility. I must also note that I have yet to receive a response to the correspondence I sent to Councillor Carli Harper on 22 February 2026.
In light of the broader Norwich Market revamp, we noted investigatory digging and trial pits being conducted at the bike park on Saturday 21 February 2026. Please provide urgent clarification on the following:
Purpose of Works: What was the specific purpose of this digging?
Link to Proposals: Please confirm whether this work is, or is not, directly associated with the planned covered seating area as part of the Norwich Market revamp.
Project Status: If the digging at the bike park is related to the above revamp project, do these trial pits indicate that the Council has moved past general consultation and into the formal design/feasibility stage for this specific site?
As this site is within the Norwich City Centre Conservation Area and the immediate setting of City Hall (Grade II*) and St Peter Mancroft Church (Grade I), I require information on the following:
Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA): Has a formal HIA been conducted to assess how the removal of this 90-year-old social and transport hub affects the "character and appearance" of the Conservation Area, as required by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990?
Social Value Heritage: How has the Council accounted for the "communal value" of this space as a "well-used social hub," consistent with Historic England’s Conservation Principles?
Consultation Transparency: Please provide any internal reports weighing the proposed market revamp benefits against potential harm to this historic setting, addressing concerns that the recent survey of 691 respondents very likely excluded regular facility users.
Given that I expect the petition to soon exceed 1,000 citizens who have voiced their opposition and physical investigations have commenced, any further works carried out before these heritage assessments are made public would be seen as a serious bypass of democratic accountability.
I request that the Council pauses all physical activity if this is the case, until a full assessment is available for public scrutiny through the Norwich Planning Portal.
I look forward to your response within 20 working days.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Anna Wright
Lead Petitioner, Stop Norwich Motorbike Park Changes