Last evening I attended an “Open Meeting” held in Earsham Village Hall. This meeting was very well attended by residents, with two officers and one councillor representing the District Council.

It was clear that most people present were not in favour of either of the two sites up for comment, neither should be considered suitable as permanent sites for travellers. As this consultation will only consider letters directly from the public, I felt that residents would not have the opportunity of putting together any co-ordinated approach to the District Council. I have therefore put this “Post” on my Blog so that readers may see the comments of others and be able to respond accordingly. Taking inspiration from others.

I sincerely hope you find this helpful, and I look forward to seeing the coments from residents. Please be cautious in your letters to the council, they should not show partiality towards any class or race otherwise I will not be able to publish them.

They can be in favour of the settled community, but as important, they should be constructive so far as the travelling community are concerned; for example, “These two site are not suitable for use by the travelling community because of the considerable risk every time they leave or enter the site because it will mean crossing the traffic on this very fast stretch of the A143″, or “The sites are a long way from the village for children to walk to school, there being no room in School Rd for more cars to wait at starting and leaving off times”

I was very pleased to see the write up in the EDP this morning (April 21st), lets hope that the campaign gains momentum now.

Norfolk County Council has recently been awarded a top-rating of four stars by the Audit Commission under the ruling Conservative administration. In particular, we are “performing well” in our use of resources, vital in the current economic climate as Norfolk residents need to know their council tax is being used as efficiently as possible. In awarding the fourth star, the Audit Commission said:

“The Council continues to provide strong community leadership and is working well with partners to improve services and quality of life for local residents.

It has been instrumental in getting agreement for upgrading the A11 to a full dual carriageway and continues to be key in driving and supporting regeneration across the County.

Children are achieving more GCSEs and attainment elsewhere is generally improving. Increasing numbers of young people are either in employment, education or training.”

I have been pleased to represent the Clavering Division of the County Council during this achievement.

Currently the Toft Monks Parish Council are running a campaign to have the speed limit on the A143 reduced from 50mph to 40mph on the main road and to 30mph on all of the side roads of the village. I support the proposals that the Parish Council have made and for the information of readers I am copying the information which is appended to the petition currently being circulated. I urge all interested parties to sign, if you have not already done so, please get in touch with Linda Holland and sign up.

A143                                                                                                                                              In the centre of the village we have a dangerous crossroad. The A143 is narrow and straight at this point encouraging drivers to speed up and race past slower vehicles.

Pulling onto the main road from Mardle Rd is dangerous as traffic appears round a bend from the south and then immediately disappears into another bend. It is easy to pull out in front of the ‘invisible’ traffic thus risking collision. When the grass grows long on the verges visibility is further reduced.

The approach to Post Office Rd is a sharp incline with restricted visibility due to the properties on either side. In icy weather it can be impossible to stop at the top before pulling out onto the main road. Many pets have been killed or injured in this location causing great distress to the owner and, trauma for the drivers.

The footway here is just about wide enough for a single person. The school is situated about a mile further on towards Haddiscoe on a blind bend. This is a very busy spot at the start and finish of the school day as parents deliver and collect their children. No child likes to walk to school as it is too dangerous. The footway from the village centre to the school is narrow and gets worse in the summer when the hedges encroach, pushing pedestrians towards the road. The path is another narrow one – just about wide enough for a buggy or wheelchair. However, when heavy traffic speeds past the back wind is enough to drag the unsuspecting or a child into the road.

Each side of this single carriageway road is only just wide enough for a lorry with its offside wheels on the centre white line; when another lorry approaches from the opposite direction they are both required to pull into the edge of the road and almost mount the kerb – frightening for users of the footpath!

Although the records will probably show that the injury accident numbers are relatively low, the future holds the probability of increased traffic from Gt Yarmouth Outer Harbour and possibility from sand and gravel extraction at Haddiscoe and/or Fritton.

I am now able to confirm that the investigation that is scheduled for later this year will also include the school, this was confirmed to me by Adrian Gunson, who is, Cabinet Member for Planning and Transportation. But, please keep the pressure on the petition and write your on coments on the Blog.

TT

 

There are many comments regarding the Haddiscoe Gravel extraction site proposals on  this Blog. These may be found by scrolling through the Archive files, they can be found on the righthand side of the site underneath the picture of me. Click on ‘March 2008′, and you will find the early information there. I have opened this new Blog site to enable fresh information to be readily available. Please send any new comments to this site.

I have also taken the liberty of reposting a comment that contains information about a meeting to be help in the Parish for all interested people.

‘Public Notice’
The first Annual General Meeting of the Haddiscoe StoPit Association is to be held at the Haddiscoe Village Hall, The Street, Haddiscoe on Monday the 6th April 2009 starting at 2030h.
StoPit has been formed to fight proposed gravel extraction, concrete making and inert waste recycling in the village.

The Annual General Meeting will be a members’ only meeting.

If you are concerned about these proposals and want your voice to be heard, join StoPit now.
The membership fee of ten pounds could save you thousands on the future value of your house.
Why not join at the meeting on the door?

I should point out that I am not a member myself, but feel it is in the general public interest. I am open to comments from all sides of the debate and must remain so. But my belief is that the association above is to be congratulated in bringing together those people of like mind. Well done folks!

In 2009 I hope to continue serving the community that elected me, to the best of my ability. This means listening to all views on a particular issue, not just those who shout the loudest, and trying to exercise sound judgement for the benefit of the wider community.

I have worked hard to establish a rapport with the Parish Councils in my Division in order to represent their interests, and as my Division is on the boundary of the County, I have worked with our Suffolk neighbours where necessary.

2008 has been a tough year for me, as most of you know I suffered a heart attack in mid year. Thankfully this is all behind me now and my health is much better. I have been selected to stand as a Conservative Candidate, but I recognise that there are those of a different political persuasion who have their views and strengths and as residents I will represent their views as well as my own.

I will use this Blog to inform and to keep you abreast of all election matters. Thank you for reading the Blog, if you have any comments please send them to me via the Blog.

Published & printed by K R Wherton of ‘Grasmere’, Denmark St, Diss, IP22 4LE. On behalf of Tony Tomkinson, 10 Wherry Close, Chedgrave, Norwich, NR14 6LS.

I have been having some research carried out regarding speed limits outside of schools which are directly accessed from an A class road. There can be little surprise that our school at Toft Monks / Haddiscoe is the only school in the county with a speed limit above 40 mph. There are two other schools where their boundary is on an A road, but the entrance to the school is from a bye road making it so much safer. I hope that everyone will be encouraged to write to me and sign in to support a request that the speed limit is reduced outside of the school. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Please look up the original Post, by clicking on the Archive list for March 2008.

My Blog has now been in use for more than twelve months,; and I have to say that I am very pleased that it has been so widely used by the residents of the Clavering Division.

For your information, since I started to put some of your and my concerns on the site there have been nearly 5,000 visits to the site, the main ones being:-

Haddiscoe Mineral Extraction proposals;     895

Travellers site at Earsham;      316

Proposed Travellers site at Kirby Cane     207

Haddiscoe Road improvements     121

My Details     118

Toft Monks speed limit reduction request    98

Waste disposal site at Aldeby     77

Glebelands School speed limit     73

Thank you everyone for your comments. This year there will be an election for a new County Council. That election will take place on June 4th. I am pleased to inform you that I have been selected by the Conservative Party to contest the election and hope that you will all give me your support for a further term. I will be using the Blog to keep everyone up to date, to answer your comments, and to continue the service that the Blog has provided in the past.

For main content re the Election there will be a seperate Post which I will start shortly.

I am pleased to tell you that the County Council has, once more started proceedings against the travellers in Five Acre Lane. The reason for the renewed court action is the increases in numbers on the lane above the numbers previously agree with the Judge. Continued parking of living units both sides of the road, again against the direction of the Judge. Let’s hope that this one sticks.

At the hearing yesterday 20th April, the Judge agree to the Council going back to a full court hearing, I am waiting for the date of that hearing to be announced.

There has been a significant change in County Council policy regarding members who run their own Blogs. details of the change are shown below.

The County Council Web site www.norfolk.gov.uk has been altered to make it easier for residents to contact their Councillor, It is now possible to get my details by logging on the www.norfolk.gov.uk/tonytomkinson. If you should log on this way you will find button which sends you direct to my Blog. Please pass this information on to your friends in the Clavering Division.

The County Council has no editorial rights over what I say in the Blog and this caviat is mentioned when you log on. Basically this means that I can use the Blog at election times, I can use the Blog to be critical of CC policy if I feel the need. Indeed, the Blog remains my voice to help the residents of the Clavering Division. Keep reading it please and keep letting me know your thoughts on the various issues that affect us all. By the way, since I started the Blog some 4,000 visits have been made to the Blog over the last nine month period. It really is working, Helping me work for you.

Tony Tomkinson

There was a report in the EDP last week saying that the current economic crisis would scupper the Local Government Review. It just may be that some good will come out of our economic problems.

At the October meeting of the County Council the following proposal was passed by a majority of all members:-

1. The County strongly opposes the need for the Boundary Committee review of arrangements in Norfolk and the procedure adopted. The existing two and three tier structure is entirely adequate for the task of respoding to the needs of Norfolk residents. Retaining the status quo should have been included as an option.
2. Any further efficiency would be better achieved, and local democracy and accountability better preserved by joint working between the existing authorities on the basis of the Norfolk shared services model.
3. The territorial integrity of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk should be preserved.
4. Any final proposal which involves a change to the status quo should not be implemented without being put to a vote by the government for people of Norfolk.
5. Of the options put forward by the Boundary Committee we believe the single county option (without Lowestoft) to be preferable for the reasons set out in the report but this does not detract from our main contention that no change is necessary.

At the meeting I was pleased to support this motion, which I believe will be the best solution for us. Please send me your comments.