This evening (Friday), 2 of us had to walk on the road because of the utterly selfish parking on Bunwell road from the pub, 19 cars were right across the path. we are not youngsters who can easily jump out of the way of vehicles coming up behind us. I am considering approaching the police to see what can be done, as this problem has also happened to a disabled friend of ours who now is scared of going to visit friends in the evening as she can't use her wheelchair on the path. I think the Landlord has a 'duty of care' to ask motorists to park on the road, not the pathway, when using the pub.
Particularly bad as Bunwell Road is on the designated HGV route. The HGV route needs to be reassessed and removed as times have changed and better pathways need installing so residents can enjoy walking (and using wheelchairs) around the village.
This is very frustrating and must be dealt with but it should also be noted that the church is equally guilty. A huge number of cars park inappropriately along Station Road when services are being held.
The footpaths on Bunwell road are perfectly adequate when kept clear of parked cars and overgrown hedging. These matters MUST be correctly sorted out by either Highways or the Police.(or maybe both)
The heavy goods vehicles are a nuisance but the 'powers that be' granted permission for Spooner Row to be a designated heavy goods route after many public meetings in the Village Hall, and that was before there was a footpath on Bunwell road or from the Church to the level crossing.
If the pathways are kept clear there isn't a problem, as said many times on this forum, keep the hedges cut back to expose ALL the path & don't permit parking on footpaths, problem solved.
There was only one public meeting in the village hall. This was about 20 years ago when Station Rd and Bunwell Rd were both included as the designated HGV route. This was after a planning application appeared in the local press. A large number of residents attended that meeting who were very much against it. Times have changed, the HGV traffic is worse and this needs to be reviewed.
I agree, the pathways need to be kept clear, but they are not. Its not that simple.
In order for the route to have been decided, a decision has to have been made by someone, there also has to be a mechanism to change it. I do not accept that the answer is simply 'no'
Does anyone have a contact at South Norfolk / Highways that we can start the ball rolling with? It may be as simple as having a meeting with a decision maker and going through a formal process.
I imagine that one part of that process will be, what are our alternative suggested routes and expected vehicle numbers, for that we need to have an understanding of who is using the road, where they are going, times, dates etc. So we will need some data to back up our campaign. I am pretty sure we cannot use cameras (although i may be wrong) so it will have to be done manually. A rota for volunteers should be our first step.
Yes, I agree, the HGV route is a bad route & should be changed; although I don't know where the route should be & how it can be changed. When it was first suggested, we villagers were 'up in arms' about it and, despite many objections, we were argued down by various bodies, including the Police. We were told that this route was the safest. That was before there was a Bunwell Road Footpath!! And it was ok then for the children to walk down to either get the bus to Wym High School or walk to the Village School. Now the footpath is, in parts, unuseable, so I can't see the difference. There was a 60 MPH speed limit for cars and 40 MPH for lorries.
Lorries may legally use the road, cars may not, legally, park on footpaths. That is a strong reason to note numbers and give then to Norfolk Constabulary.
We can't turn back the clock and go back to when, for instance, the pub had a carpark at the back as well as the front, but we can try to educate drivers to observe the rights of pedestrians. We don't need yellow lines (or any other colour), We just need common sense & decent drivers!
The junction at Station Rd and Bunwell Rd nearly had it first accident on Thursday . We were out walking , got to the junction , where the silver car is always parked , and cars , lorries and a tractor all appeared at once , it was manic . We had to position ourselves behind said silver car to avoid being hit. Fortunately a car driver let us across the road , which we did , but not with any confidence that a vehicle would hit us !!!
It was a bad day all round , road wise , because I was forced to take avoiding action in my car by mounting the pavement between the pub and the chicane , because a Newalls lorry came like a bat out of hell down the middle of the road . I couldn,t get number because plate was covered in mud . OUR VILLAGE IS A ACCIDENT TIME BOMB TICKING !
HGV route is a complete nonsense, there is nothing other than planning conditions that control the direction a vehicle takes, you need to get highways to add conditions to planning to prevent vehicles coming through a village. The meeting in the village hall is not a lawful condition, just an open discussion of what would be happening.
Take Newalls, no planning, company in administration, new company from same location, but still carry on, want to stop Newalls lorries, complain to Breckland for lack of enforcement.
RJM lorries, again no planning, complain to South Northfold about lack of enforcement, this planning was also refused.
A compny could start tomorrow along bunwell road with a 100hgvs, which direction are they going to take to get to the A11 ? The only chance you have of reducing traffic is to stop the planning being granted, nothing else has a chance.
Now the average person would now highlight two things, 1. If you were working on the planning team why would ever grant planning where traffic goes through the village, where an acre of land next to the A11 that would effect noone with traffic is left as a field. 2. If you were going to start a business would you not consider the environmental impact your vehicles would make on people's lives going through the village ? If you did you'd say, this is a poor location I'll look Somewhere else, or I don't give a toss about the village I'm only interested in my business making money. Maybe the owner of RJM if he drinks in the pub could be asked that question ?
