Just curious after looking at the map, is Spooner Row a HGV route ? apart from the lorries we know come through the village that shouldn't, where do any of the HGVs goto ?
Obviously going onto or off the A11 but you can come off earlier than our turning and later through Attleborough, so where do they go from Spooner Row ? There is a very small window of land that wouldn't be accessed quicker coming off other exits to the A11, so why choose our exit.
The HGV route was established through Spooner Row about 1998 and it was to allow lorries to reach a chicken factory further along the line in Breckland - can't remember the name of the company now. There was a better alternative route coming from Attleborough but it was said that this would pass-by a councillor's house so this option was dismissed. The local paper advertised the proposed HGV route and many residents were concerned as it went right through the middle of the village. This resulted in a well-attended meeting at the village hall with all parties concerned. The establishment of the HGV route from the A11 exit, along Station Road, then Bunwell Road and beyond went ahead anyway.
Yes it is a route and I understand it went through on account of those in the village wanting an access to the the A11, which came with the devil of an HGV route, coupled with pressure from the Buckenhams about Lorries going past two schools. The fact that the schools were and are are set several hundred yards back from the road and that Sponner row primary is next to the road was sidelined.
Whether there was councillor involved or not I do not know but i do know many more people whinged about this in the Buckenhams ( as there are more people) so we got the short straw and no one , certainly not in Bunwell or outside the village really gave a damn as a quick link to the the A11 was their priority.
The chicanes , what is left of them after another bash recently was a sop, but unless we get someone killed ( sorry to be so blunt ) nothing, such as speed hump provision is going to change in this current austere climate.
If you feel inclined our County Councillor is Colin Foulger if you want to write to him , but we go into Breckland and another councillor's patch very quickly once we leave the village.
Didn't i hear something about the chicanes being moved as part of a planning application at the house where the veg is often for sale?
From what I can work out, most of the trucks seem to come and go from that truck park on the Bunwell road, Newall to their illegal (i'm sorry, operating without the trivialities of permission) mineral re-processing site.
The ones going to and from farms and fields as part of the harvest we can accept as part of living in a rural area though
We have lived on Bunwell road since 1988. It was quite peaceful until Banham Poultry gained permission to use the road as a shortcut to the A11. As has been previously stated, there were several more sensible routes they could have opted for, but despite well attended, sometimes heated meetings in the Village Hall, the route was approved.
Once that company's lorries started using the route, the flood gates opened and tankers & other huge lorries were soon thundering through. We had hoped that gaining a speed limit might slow them down, especially as we were told there would be a chicane at each end of the village. The chicane on Bunwell road was built on a blind bend, well into the village, not on the straight road where traffic needed to be slowed down.( 'Pure madness' was heard to be said by one of the gents building the chicane)
We now live on a road where heavy goods lorries have priority over pedestrians, who can't use the footpath because it has become impassable.
Maybe a death (very blunt, but true) would make Spooner Row a safer place. I realise that is a volatile statement, but, for those of you who only drive around in the village, try walking, just once, along Bunwell road and Queens street, leaving your vehicle on the Boars car park. It's less than a mile, but at dusk, as the nights get longer & children are walking home from school, it seems a lot further. It is a very worrying situation!
I had 3 experience's of crazy driving from car driver , HGV and Tractor through the village in the last 2 days . 1. Children were having cycle training outside the school ( signs were out on road to warn drivers ) and a car ,doing at least 40 MPH , just flew passed them as though they were not there !! 2. Walking my dog near the school end chicane a tractor and trailer came through so fast it hit the curb and bounced up into the air coming down with a crash . I was on the grass ( no pathway ) within 10 feet of this . 3. Again whilst walking my dog in Bunwell rd ( again no pathway ) 2 Newell's lorries seemed to be having a race coming through the Bunwell rd chicane and narrowly missed me . You are right in thinking until a serious accident happens nothing will be done !!!
It is a disgrace that the road running through the village was made into an HGV route in the first place and a disgrace that it remains so. It is clear from some of the postings on here that it IS dangerous and something needs to be done about it. Some lorry drivers treat the road as if they own it, treating other road users as if they are not important enough to show any consideration. Between the level crossing and church, HGV's often have to mount the one piece of pedestrian pathway in order to pass each other. It makes me cringe just how very close the HGV route is to the school and the tight junction outside the church is totally impractical for HGV use.
Surely something can be done ? Even before traffic hits the village the speed vehicles come down Bunwell Road is crazy. What about speaking to highway, can they help ?
I also understood that The Dambrigg near New Buckenham had a weight restriction, as did some parts through Old Buckenham, so that's why Spooner Row was used. It is ridiculous the speed and amount of traffic that uses the village as a cut through and the present speed restrictions just seem to be a challenge for drivers to swerve round at excessive speed!
I dont think some of you realise all the fuss you make about lorries. Do you know what they actually do? For example without lorries food doesnt get delivered.
It clearly does matter where they go when it is past a primary school on a road not wide enough for two lorries !!
No problem with what they deliver just the route they take and the manner in which they drive it ! and of course you are not at all biased on this matter are you ANON?
It's not only primary schools, people work hard to afford a home, a place they can call their own. On nice days does anyone not want to sit in their garden and relax without an earthquake going past. I have no idea what the sound must be like for the houses on the corner of station road, indoors must sound earthshaking let alone being outside.
The joke of all this is everyone knows the noise and vibration heavy vehicles make, yet the only people that allow such things or make flippant comments are the people that don't have to put up with it. Let's see how many people who work for Highways or the council that have HGVs going past their front door.
I was thinking about this and actually it does matter where they are going, but I can't work out what possible destinations are best reached going via Spooner Row which cannot be reached in another way.
For example, from what I have seen, most are either
Newall - So SR is the best route from the A11 avoiding Attleborough/Bestthorpe road
RJM Commercials - going to their park, so SR is the best route
Any Farm type trucks going towards Bunwell SR is probably the best route anyway
Anyone aiming for the turnpike road would surely go via the Hethel road towards Mulbarton/Tacnoleston, but not in the direction of Diss/Banham because you would get stuck at New Buckenham so SR not best route and probably most HGV's wouldn't go that way so I don't, so Old Buckenham would be the most sensible route or am i missing something?
As for food not being delivered, that is a stupid statement. In the same way people say its not guns that kill people its the people with the guns, there is no problem with trucks in themselves which are the problem, it is the people who drive them, and the manner in which they are driven!
