A subject that is invariably raised at Parish Council Meetings is concern at the speed of traffic passing through the village. At the previous Parish Council Meeting PC Jim Squires undertook to arrange for measurements to be made of the speed of vehicles over a period of time. This was done with two parallel tubes fastened across the road surface. Recordings were made between Tuesday 17 February and Thursday 26 February, and the findings were somewhat surprising.
Travelling towards the A143 the average speed readings between 0700 hours and 2000 hours were 30.7 mph lowest reading and 36.8mph highest reading. This increased to 38.8 mph if taken over a 24 hour period. The total number of movements was 5,088 and the percentage of drivers not exceeding the posted speed limit of 30mph or exceeding it by so small a margin so as not to attract prosecution was 67%. Of the remainder 11.7% exceeded 41mph.
Travelling towards Brockdish the average speed readings between 0700 hours and 2000 hours were 28.7 mph lowest reading and 36.4mph highest reading. This increased to 37.0 mph if taken over a 24 hour period. The total number of movements was 5,060 and the percentage of drivers not exceeding the posted limit of 30 mph or by exceeding it by such a small margin as not to attract prosecution was 79%. Of the remainder just under 5.8% were travelling over 41mph.
It was noted that there were a number of high readings but no set trends and they occurred throughout the day in both directions but the overall result is that there is 73% compliance with the speed restriction. However these are averages and it does show that during this period there were 887 vehicle movements that exceeded 41mph.
It seems that by and large we are law abiding, but rightly or wrongly there is a perception at Norfolk Highways Authority that much of the speeding is done by local residents, so this is a timely reminder that it is our village and we should all respect our fellow residents and keep below the limit.
The public forum heard from Alastair Brice, the owner of the company that has bought the egg farm in the village. Alastair has submitted a planning application for an agricultural dwelling for a farm manager and described why there is a need for a full time presence on the site. We also heard from the applicants for a temporary four year permission to live on a site that falls outside the village development boundary. The Parish Council meeting unanimously supported both applications.
We once again welcomed our District and County Councillors Jenny and Martin Wilby and also PC Jim Squires to the public forum. The next Parish Council Meeting, which will also be the Annual Meeting, will be held at 7.30 on Monday 11th May. It provides an excellent opportunity to meet representatives of Local Government and the Police.
Andrew Major (Chairman)
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