The decision on whether to give permission for the controversial £274m Norwich Western Link road will not be made until next year, council bosses have confirmed.

Norfolk County Council has asked its own planning committee to give the go-ahead for the 3.9-mile road, which would connect the Northern Distributor Road to the A47 near Honingham.

A visualisation of the Norwich Western LinkA visualisation of the Norwich Western Link (Image: Norfolk County Council)

As part of the planning process, people and organisations had the opportunity to make representations supporting or opposing the scheme. County Hall received more than 5,000 responses.

With the council's planning department working through all of those responses - and likely to need further information from its highways department - the authority extended the timescale for a decision to be made.

The very earliest that will now happen is January 31 next year - and it is probable it could be later still.

Nick Johnson, the council's head of planning, said: "The projected timeline is designed to allow for the applicant to gather this additional information, before a further round of public consultation on the information received and then preparation of the committee report.

"Matters such as this need to be properly scrutinised in order that the appropriate decision can be made in the public interest and this timeline reflects that."

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Given the opposition, it is likely the scheme will be 'called in' by the government.

That would place the decision in the hands of the secretary of state, who would have the ultimate say, after a planning inspector hears evidence about the project at a public inquiry.

The Western Link, which includes a viaduct over the Wensum Valley, has long been a priority of Conservative-controlled County Hall.

Council leaders and business bosses say it is needed to ease congestion, stop rat-running and boost the economy.

But critics, including Natural England and Norfolk Wildlife Trust, say it threatens rare barbastelle bats and would destroy habitats, which the council's proposed mitigation would not make up for.

Natural England has objected to the road plans because of the impact on barbastelle batsNatural England has objected to the road plans because of the impact on barbastelle bats (Image: C. Packman)

The county council also has a multi-million-pound funding gap between the road's currently estimated £274m bill and the £213m the government has earmarked towards it.