Have you seen the grass verge down school lane. What a muddy mess!!!! That school lot come roaring down the road ripping up the grass verges, parking right in front of peoples drives. Something has to be done about this.
I agree there are issues with this narrow lane and school parking is a problem. Yet South Norfolk Council has allocated within its Local Plan, houses to be built down School Lane - which will make matters worse. The District Council said that all areas outside schools have problems, but not this much of a problem! For residents there is only one way in and out of the road - no choice to go in the other direction to avoid the blocked, chaotic road at the junction with the school gates. The best thing for residents to do is to avoid going out when possible during school run times. When the junction is congested, you can't see the on-coming traffic when pulling out into Station Road (an HGV route) because of all the parked cars and there was an accident here recently which Highways are aware. There has also been several near misses with children and parents.
This parking situation is not the school's fault but some parents driving cars should be more considerate. It seems ludicrous that South Norfolk Council want to build houses in School Lane when they are fully aware of the problems here including these safety issues, flooding, highway congestion, building on a green field/prime agricultural site when a brown field site was provided as an alternative etc
I forgot to mention, that this narrow lane and junction with all its parking and safety issues to school users, residents and members of the public, will also have to accommodate all the construction vehicles when the School Lane houses get built. Apparently, the Council does not consider there to be an access problem here as discussed at the recent Local Plan Examination. I couldn't believe my ears! I disagreed!
Would it be possible to ask/lean on the proposed developers for houses in School Lane to provide an additional car park for parents of children at the school ? After all, developers do provide perks ............ sometimes !
It would seem that the current car park is not adequate at certain times. I am not sure how the Town Council would feel about extending this car park or if that isn't an option.
The car park was extended a few years ago and this now has little impact on the volume of school traffic/parking. In any case, it is not just the school traffic, it's school traffic with long queues at the level crossing, parked cars, HGV's and local cars and vans all trying to use Station Road at the same time, merging into one big congestion. Why wasn't the developer for Bunwell Rd and Chapel Rd asked/leaned on to provide a proper solution to this traffic propblem by the school? It's not just about building unwanted houses.
In all the years I've lived in the village I have never known so many vehicles to be in School Lane/Station Road at school run times. Surely there must be some of these children who live in the village that could be walked to/from school to help alleviate the problem?
What about the small carpark at the back of the village hall, could this not be used to ease the problem?
This isn't the solution but if everyone makes a small effort it might help to avoid the serious accident that is waiting to happen.
The council did look into the option of the village hall car park as a possible solution, but the village hall driveway is privately owned (not by the village hall), hence ruling this out as an option. A single lane drive with poor visibility may do little but add to the problem anyway!
I have been looking again at the leaflet distributed at the Public Exhibition on 18th July 2012 in which the developers say the following benefits are being considered as a consequence of these developments :
The improvement of and/or extension to the village hall
the possible introduction of sustainable transport measures, including an increased train service, an aspect we are discussing with Greater Anglia
additional and improved play equipment on the playing field
an improvement to the teaching accommodation at the school
the provision of new open space in the village
new allotments
relocation of pumping station to improve the current system
Is it South Norfolk Council who have the ability to hold the developers to some of the above promises? If so, perhaps they should be asked about additional car parking spaces at the school at least, and perhaps some of the other promises too ? It would be great if some of these could be implemented.
If the district council are aware of the problems at School Lane, yet aim to build houses here and creating potential serious hazards with the extra cars from more houses and the enormous lorries used in construction, then surely this is acting irresponsibly? If, and probably when, a serious accident happens near the primary school on the junction, which also caters for under the 5's, then surely some individual accountability should be made for making such rash decisions at the council. Would this not be considered to be a dereliction of duty?
