*Republished with permission from Eastern Daily Press/Great Yarmouth Mercury.
Business, council and public sector leaders have set out reasons why Great Yarmouth deserves a third bridge.
Their arguments are set out in a Norfolk County Council document called Great Yarmouth Third River Crossing – Building Futures.
The council expects to hear by September if the government will provide funding for a £120m crossing.
Graham Hacon, chief executive of 3sun Group, said: “Great Yarmouth has huge potential for growth, which will bring new employment and skilled jobs opportunities, but for this to be achieved, it is vital a third river crossing
connects the port, its deep-water Outer Harbour and the rest of the South Denes peninsula to the trunk road network.
“Traffic congestion continues to cause huge problems in Great Yarmouth, especially in the summer months, and its two current bridges are inadequate to cope with the predicted increased use as our industry grows.”
Blair Ainslie, chief executive at Seajacks, said: “Reducing traffic congestion around the town will enable suppliers and employees to be even more productive, which in turn will benefit the local economy.”
Richard Goffin, port director at Peel Ports Great Yarmouth, said: “Investing in improved transport is an essential enabler to sustainable future growth.”
Graham Plant, leader at Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: “This vital third crossing will bring huge benefits for the economy, significantly improving traffic connections, creating jobs and unlocking further business, regeneration and economic growth issues.”
Christine Allen, chief executive at the James Paget University Hospital, said: “A third river crossing that helps keep traffic moving so urgent cases can arrive at our hospital more quickly can only be good for our patients and the dedicated team of staff that care for them.”
Supt Roger Wiltshire, head of Great Yarmouth police, said he welcomed anything which can improve the town’s infrastructure and added it could lead to emergency response times by officers being further reduced.
David Ashworth, chief fire officer for the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, said a third crossing would give the fire brigade greater local resilience, particularly in the early stages of major incidents.
Stuart Rimmer, chief executive at East Coast College, said the bridge would help achieve growth in the key sectors of the local economy, such as the off shore industry.
Norfolk County Council says benefits of the third river crossing include:
Nearly 500 individuals, including local residents and business representatives, had responded to Norfolk County Council’s public consultation on the proposed third river crossing and wider transport issues in the Great Yarmouth area.
The results showed 80pc either strongly agreed or agreed that congestion would be greatly reduced by a new river crossing and 81pc said they would be very likely or likely to use a third river crossing.
Access the article published by EDP24 here .
Please note that hyperlinks are disabled on Offshore WIND Mobile.