Support Town Close Road
This website is aimed at supporting the integrity of Town Close Road and its adjoining lanes as a significant area of Norwich 19th Century heritage, enhanced by a wide range of large mature trees from the same period.
Town Close Road is a unique area within Norwich, a city that is internationally recognised for its numerous heritage and historical buildings and promoted as a ‘Fine City’. This street, along with its adjacent lanes, consists mainly of mid-Victorian ‘house-pairs’ in the ‘Georgian’ style, surrounded by mature trees many of which are now over 150 years old. The homogeneity of architectural style in one street is unique in Norwich, surviving the bombings of the Second World War entirely intact.
The protection of this street for future generations is an issue on which we can all be united - whether we own or rent here, and so acting as temporary custodians of this heritage - or just visiting. We are concerned that with, recent developments, the reasonable balance between private benefit and public good is in danger of being severely and irreversibly eroded.
The idea of this website originated in mid-2024, when within two weeks we had registered over 100 supporters all of whom live in this area of Norwich or are familiar with it. We hope this website will help promote understanding of the special character of this area, will raise awareness of the threats faced and will assist in finding solutions that fully recognise its uniqueness.
Norwich City Council’s policies, laid out in the recently adopted Greater Norwich Local Plan with its tagline ‘Growing Stronger Communities Everywhere’, rightly emphasises the conservation and enhancement of heritage settings within the City. We support the full implementation of this policy and are determined to ensure any new development in our neighbourhood is in line with the Council’s own stated strategic objectives.
Town Close Road was at the core of the original Newmarket Road Conservation Area when it was established in 1970 over 50 years ago. Our Conservation Area is now coming up for formal review by the City Council, and we hope the detailed research that underlies this website will support that review in making more explicit the conservation and design policies needed to safeguard the historic character of this area.