UKIP candidate Glenn Tingle turns up the heat on Norwich City Council

Glenn Tingle, the UK Independence Party’s Parliamentary Candidate for Norwich North has been speaking up for the residents of Fiddlewood, 800 of whom signed a petition against the Ives/Bussey Road development, which involves the building of new flats and houses on a playing field in the middle of their estate.

The Council’s Planning Department is now claiming that the petition was never received. Mr Tingle has been helped by the former Chief Accountant to the European Commission, Marta Andreasen, who is now a UKIP MEP, who visited Norwich yesterday (Sunday) to support his campaign. The pair took a second copy of the missing petition to the doors of the City Council building to stage a symbolic second delivery.

Speaking about the development, Glenn said: “Norwich City Council has behaved appallingly and treated the residents with contempt. I have a copy of a letter from the Directorate of Community & Neighbourhoods confirming receipt of the petition and I also have copies of 500 of the 800 signatures submitted in the missing petition. The Fiddlewood residents, who have legitimate concerns about the loss of an open play area for children in their community, have been trampled under foot by Norwich City Council. They are entitled to an explanation and I believe that there should be a local referendum to let the people decide about this development.”

The petition, which strongly objects to the building of homes on a play area for local children, was handed to Norwich City Council, who later wrote to confirm receipt of it. However, the Council’s Planning Department subsequently said that it had no record of ever having received the petition. It later claimed in documents published on the Council’s website that there were only two objections to the development, which consists of 16 new houses and 18 flats. It has since given permission for the development to go ahead.