Bawburgh and Colney Lakes Country Park
A new allocated country park in the current GNLP
In case you were unaware (as I was!), the lakes south of New Road are not leftover countryside. They are an allocated country park in the adopted Greater Norwich Local Plan.
Where it is
The allocation covers about 73.5 hectares of former gravel workings in the Yare valley, south of New Road, between Bawburgh, Colney and the A47. The flooded pits, grassland, scrub and woodland sit in the same corridor as Charter Wood, Bowthorpe and the river.
On the campaign map this is the water and green land immediately south of the dashed red outline (Wain Estates / site 25801). The two sit across New Road from each other.
The official documents place the allocation in the Yare valley strategic green-infrastructure corridor, close to the links that run on towards the Wensum.
What BAW2 / S.BA.1 means
In older plan drafts the policy was called BAW2. In the adopted March 2024 plan the same allocation is Policy S.BA.1. People still say BAW2. It is the same piece of land.
The adopted policy is short and clear:
Bawburgh and Colney Lakes (73.5 hectares) is allocated for a water-based country park.
It must deliver:
Public access.
Footpath and cycle links, with entry points from major residential developments, agreed with the highway authority.
A conservation management plan, agreed before work starts, with zoned access so some areas are protected from damage and disturbance. The ecological value of the County Wildlife Site must be retained and enhanced in any areas opened to the public.
The supporting text says a country park here would give greater public access, more water-based activity, and better protection of habitats. It is also listed as a green-infrastructure priority in the Greater Norwich Infrastructure Plan and is being considered through the revised Greater Norwich Green Infrastructure Strategy.
What is there now
The pits are a County Wildlife Site — flooded gravel workings with grassland, scrub and woodland. They are not unused. Bawburgh Fisheries currently runs them as a private / syndicate fishery, with limited public access.
So the allocation is not inventing a green space from nothing. It is a decision that this land should become a proper country park, with public paths, managed wildlife areas and links from the surrounding estates — Bowthorpe, Costessey, Colney and any future development the plan allows.
Has it been built?
No. The same land was first allocated as a water-based country park in the 2015 South Norfolk Local Plan. The Greater Norwich Local Plan carried that allocation forward in March 2024 because the councils said there was a reasonable prospect of funding and delivery by 2038. It has still not been delivered.
An allocation is not the same as a finished park. It is a policy commitment. Until the conservation plan, access and management are in place, the lakes remain a wildlife site with restricted public use — and a promise on a map.
Why it matters for the land north of New Road
Site 25801 and the other Call for Sites promotions in this corridor sit on the opposite side of New Road, or further around the same valley towards Colney and Little Melton.
That is why the country park keeps coming up in the scoping consultation:
The plan already says this land should be a country park and a wildlife site, not a gap between new estates.
Extra housing next to it would increase visitor pressure on paths and habitats that the policy says must be zoned and protected.
Footpath and cycle links from “major residential developments” are required by the policy. That is not the same thing as using the park as the mitigation for those developments.
The country park should not be counted twice: once as a reason to put housing beside it, and again as the open space that makes that housing acceptable.
How to use this on the GNLP 2045 form
You do not need the policy number. If you want it, write S.BA.1 (still often called BAW2) — Bawburgh and Colney Lakes country park.
Useful places for it:
Question 6 — this corridor is already committed to a country park, not to another housing cluster.
Question 17 — protect and extend the park and the valley green infrastructure; identify other greenspace before adding homes next to it.
Question 19 — ask for visitor-pressure and cluster evidence that includes the allocated park.
Question 22 — name the park and the land north of New Road together.
Official policy page: Urban fringe sites — Bawburgh and Colney Lakes
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