The oft repeated refrain is that car parking is so difficult at St Stephens that anything must be an improvement. Moving problems of car parking and traffic congestion from one place to another solves nothing, on the contrary by encouraging more and longer car journeys it makes matters worse. Michael Innes has shown that it is possible to supply a 1,000+ car park spaces on the present site.
There is to be a single entrance to the hospital onto Colney Lane which will be widened from its present country lane status so that it will be broader than the Southern Bypass. It is estimated that the Hospital will create 9,000 extra traffic movements a day, these estimates are notoriously wrong when real life takes over. There is argument about residential and commercial development in the surrounding fields and the possibility of using these service roads for access to the hospital site.
Surveys by the Trust are reported as demonstrating that most people come to the present hospital by car. For this reason the hospital is to sport the largest car park in Norfolk with room for 2,000 cars.
Forty percent of households in Norwich and Norfolk do not have access to a car. These people will have to rely upon public transport to attend the hospital or visit patients there. It is said that there will be 200 bus movements a day from the city to the hospital. There is controversy over the route they will take. It seems likely that a new road will eventually be built across the Yare Valley and University playing fields. These buses are to be subsidised by the Trust, the subsidy will be paid to the bus company but will not be used to reduce fares. The current fare to Colney is 95p each, each way. How long will it be before the company decides it is uneconomical to continue?
From a rural GP in Essex "We had a similar problem in Chelmsford. The Health Authority was offered the Chelmsford Cricket Ground to expand the Chelmsford & Essex Hospital for peanuts... they turned it down and built the new hospital out of town at Broomfield (at great expense). Linking up with satellite hospitals is a nightmare and my patients have to travel to Chelmsford by bus and then change to another one out to Broomfield. Any OP appointment takes up the best part of an entire day."
Much opposition to the siting of the hospital comes from the disadvantaged in terms of finance, age, disablement and rural living. They see difficulties in getting onto buses and in having to take two buses - one into the city and another out.
Taxi fares to Colney are about £7 each way (1997).
TheBIG question about our new hospital: How do we get there?
People in Norwich have just one burning question about the new £214 million hospital taking shape at Colney: "How on earth will we get there?"
Increased journey times to the hospital and cost of public transport are the main concerns in a new survey carried out by the Norfolk & Norwich Health Care Trust.
The fears were uncovered after 30,000 leaflets about the hospital were sent out to GP surgeries, dentists, chemists and libraries.
But, despite the overwhelming public demand for news on how the transport problems will be addressed, First Eastern Counties said today there was no need to decide bus routes or prices until six months before the hospital opens in 2001.
Commercial director Mike Payne said: "We intend to provide a good level of service to the hospital on a commercial basis, at least Monday-Saturday daytimes. Bus users, staff representatives and other interested parties should be properly consulted well in advance."
His stance angered John Peacock, of transport watchdog Norwich Transport 2000, who said: "This is not just another bus service. This is a vital part of people's lives. People want to know they can have a 24hr access at an affordable price."
Patients, visitors and staff could face a return fare of around £1.70, according to a county council document.
But Mr Payne said it was too soon to make definite plans as road access to the hospital was not finalised and bus routes could change in three years.
The trust has agreed to pay a six figure sum as part of the planning agreement to subsidise services from the city centre, for buses and staff, but not fares.
Car parking prices are also yet to be fixed by the trust for the 2350 spaces at Colney.
Some of the comments and questions
New Hospital Travel Doubts
People who will one day use the new Norwich hospital at Colney are already thinking ahead about the impact it will have on them.
Let's hope those who run the health service are doing the same.
There are no doubts about the high quality of care and treatment the hospital will offer. The big question on everyone's lips is access.
What sort of bus services will there be; how much will they cost; what about car parking?
Not surprisingly, the NHS Trust is playing its cards close to its chest at the moment. There is plenty of time.
But we already sense unease at uncertainty over the level and price of bus services to be provided.
And rumours of high-cost parking must be quashed before they fester.
It is not just patients and visitors who want to know. Staff at the hospital, or those who are seeking a career there, need the information for their future plans.
Reticence to discuss the issue publicly sends the wrong signals.
Leader, Eastern Evening News 24th August 1998
Letters Editors Eastern Daily Press and Eastern Evening News
19th October 1998
People driving along the A47 near Norwich cannot fail to see how near the new Norfolk & Norwich Hospital is to the southern bypass. Many appear to believe that a road linking the bypass to the hospital is part of the development plan. Unfortunately, no such road is planned. Instead, under the existing access scheme, traffic from the county will be directed onto a largely unimproved B1108. The result is that all incoming and outgoing hospital traffic and non-hospital traffic will compete for use of the B1108 at a masive horrendous junction between Colney Lane and Watton Road.
The weakness of the present plan was recognised by the hospital's own traffic consultant and has been confirmed by another international firm. Since the plan was drawn up, permission has been granted for developments that will result in a significant increase in traffic on the Watton Road. These were not included in the hospital's traffic study. In addition, traffic counts indicate background traffic is increasing at twice the rate predicted. The access plan for the new hospital needs to be revised, urgently, to take account of the worsening traffic situation. The Hospital Trust would welcome a new link road and has supported all planning applications that would provide another access to the A47.
A junction on the bypass, adjacent to the hospital and Research Park could remove a thousand vehicles from the traffic levels predicted for the Watton Road at peak times. Such a junction, midway between the Colney and Cringleford interchanges, would reduce journey times, fuel consumption and pollution by all hospital traffic using the bypass and reduce travel distance for some users by some five miles on a round trip! The planned two million pound junction at Colney Lane could be scaled down and the money saved contributed towards a bypass link.
A few weeks ago Norfolk's Director of Planning and Transportation stated that the National Highways Agency were opposed to a new junction on the bypass for the hospital. The reason given was that according to planning guidelines, the Colney and Cringleford interchanges are too close together to permit an additional junction to be built between them. Users of motorways will be aware of numerous examples of junctions with slip roads that are very close together so obviously exceptions can be made to guidelines.
Charles Clarke, MP for Norwich South, is pressing central government to facilitate the provision of a new junction on the bypass that commonsense indicates would greatly improve access to the hospital. Everyone who believes that a new hospital should have the best access possible should support his efforts.
Graham Martin
Chairman of Colney Parish Meeting
Hospital set to get U-turn on bypass link road
Campaigners are set to get their wish for a direct link between the A47 southern bypss and the new Norfolk & Norwich Hospital at Colney, according to a city MP.
Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson said Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and roads minister Lord Whitty were ready to approve the link within weeks.
The predicted U-turn will delight MPs and campaigners at Cringleford and Colney who claim existing access to the £214 million hospital will not be able to cope with traffic when it opens in 2002.
Dr Graham Martin, spokesman for the parish of Colney, said: "This is excellent news and confirms the vibes from our own contacts. If this is true, we are very pleased.
Gordon Dean, Liberal Democrat county councillor for Eaton, said: "I am extremely pleased that after several years of campaigning the Government has listened to sense."
The Highways Agency has consistently refused to allow a new link to the bypass claiming it would be too close to other junctions.
Lord Whitty had told local MPs he would ask the agency to reconsider.
Dr Gibson said: "I would bet my salary that the road is going to come off the southern bypass."
He thought the announcement was likely within three weeks.
"I think the questions we have asked show that they can indeed build a road within two kilometres of another road off a bypass. There is no excuse for not doing it."
He said the link would be quite cheap and the Government would be prepared to pay for it.
The Highways Agency said no final decision had been made.
Eastern Daily Press and Eastern Evening News 19th April 1999
Right road to new hospital
If Dr Gibson will wager his salary on the new Colney hospital having a direct access from the southern bypass, it looks a pretty safe bet!
The Norwich North MP also says today that the new link would be "quite cheap" and the Government would pay.
There could hardly be sweeter music to waft away the Monday blues.
In just one weekend, we have heard that the new hospital is likely to have nearly 150 extra beds and the essential link to the bypass.
When the Evening News backed plans for the controversial new hospital we insisted that there must be more beds and the access must be right.
It has been a long time getting there but we are thrilled that the Government and the health service has now followed our lead.
Our only fear is that Dr Gibson is proved wrong. It could cost him more than his salary!
Editorial, Eastern Evening News 19th April 1999
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