Letters of support

Darren Davis & Jenny Howe
Grove Walk
Norwich
NR1 2QH
April 15th, 2008

To fellow neighbours and friends,

We write to urge all those affected by the re-development plans for Norwich City College to consider the impact the proposals will have on your quality of life and ensure your concerns are raised with the planning officer, in writing, this week - whilst the opportunity still exists.

For our part, a major cause for concern is the loss of privacy in our house and gardens.

The proposals will mean the replacement of the college Sports Hall building immediately behind our house, with a central car parking area. Behind the car park, approximately 80 meters away from our house, will be the new buildings that may be up-to 18 meters in height.

We are both employees of Marsh Ltd, located in Victoria House - the prominent ‘T’ shaped five/six storey building set well back on corner of Queens Road and St Stephens Road.
The rear-facing five storey ‘leg’ of this building extends backwards to within around 10 meters of the boundary with the residential housing at the rear on Victoria Street, but the front part of the building is probably around 50 meters away.

If you want a sense of perspective, the building is a little taller than the maximum height of the proposed new college buildings, and maybe a little closer in proximity to the houses on Victoria Street, but we suggest you assess for yourself just how much the Marsh building dominates the skyline and dwarfs the houses it overlooks, when viewed from Victoria Street.

From inside the Marsh office (in the front part of the building, on the second and third floors that we inhabit), there is a clear, direct and uninterrupted view to the rear windows of most houses on Victoria Street, that potentially jeopardises privacy for the occupants.

The office car parking area spreads out behind the front part of the building, either side of the rear-facing ‘leg’ and accommodates around 450 cars (from memory). Fortunately, the houses and rear gardens on Victoria Street are a ‘level’ above the Marsh car-park, so there is no issue with users being able to look over garden walls or fences (inadvertently or otherwise).
This will not be the case for us with the proposed college multi-storey car parking facility.

Based on the submitted planning application details and the personal experience we have from working in the Marsh building, we feel the re-development will destroy our privacy.

Our rear garden and rear-facing windows will almost certainly be overlooked by the new college buildings (unless the design provides no outlook in our direction) and be in direct view of the new road, car parking area and pedestrian access paths that are planned.

Having two school age children, we value and recognise the importance of quality education, but think this is less to do with the fabric of buildings and far more dependent on the quality of teaching staff and learning resources made available to students.

We also value our privacy and do not want to feel so intimidated by being under constant observation of the City College staff or student population that we no longer freely use our garden, patio area or rear-facing rooms.

If you feel just as strongly about privacy or any other issue, please make sure that you register your concerns over the next few days.

Yours sincerely,



DW Davis & J A Howe