INTRODUCTION
Costessey History
Costessey appears in the Doomsday Book 1086 as COSTESEIA, the last syllable meaning `island' from the Scandanavian Ex or Oy. The Parish logo of the Stafford Knot indicates the long historic link with the Stafford or Jerningham family, owners of Costessey Hall. The last Lord Stafford died in 1913 and the later Hall and its contents were sold off and the building was demolished in 1920.
The village developed in a linear manner as "a parish and village pleasantly seated on the River Wensum 4 1/2 miles from Norwich" but by 1951 it was described as "Costessey is now a suburb of Norwich". In reality, by then Costessey was an amalgamation of two communities, the original village, Old Costessey, and New Costessey which was first recognized in 1928.
The Jerninghams were staunch Roman Catholics and were largely responsible for building the Catholic church in the middle of Old Costessey in 1832 as well as St. Augustine's School. The Costessey Estate gave the land on which the Parish Room was built in 1902. St.Edmunds is the parish church dating back to the 14th century The Baptists have had a presence in the village since 1798, building a chapel in 1822 and a hall in 1969. In 1964 a Methodist church was built in New Costessey followed in 1972 by St. Helens, a daughter church of St. Edmunds. Also in New Costessey there is a Brethren chapel, Hebron Hall.
The Parish lies within South Norfolk District and for Parliamentary election purposes it is divided between Norwich South and South Norfolk constituencies.
The current situation
Costessey is a large village comprising the two major residential areas of Old and New Costessey. As well as the normal infilling development, two major developments have been started or are planned for the next few years — Lodge Farm and West Costessey. In addition there is an expanding industrial zone and retail park, on the Longwater site.
Apart from the new developments there have been an increasing number of pressures on Costessey over the last few years which have caused concerns amongst the residents, e.g. "Costessey is a dumping ground". This has been exacerbated by the recent proposal for a waste incinerator on the Longwater industrial site.
These pressures formed the basis for many of the responses to the consultation and hence are reflected extensively in this report.
