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.

On Friday of last week I attended a public meeting called be Kirby Cane and Ellingham Parish Council to allow residents to have their say about the proposal to allow a travellers site to be put in Church Road close to the entrance to the village of the A143.

The meeting was very well attended, I’m told there were 253 residents present, that figure is a significant number and the comments by them and the vote taken at the end of the meeting should be listened to by the officers and members of the District Council.

A Resident’s Group has been formed to co-ordinate the campaign for refusal. Should readers of the Blog wish to get in touch with them they should speak to Richard Lees on 0845 8738098 or contact him bt e-mail on rjlees@artlees.com.

The Parish Council themselves are opposed to the site, which is a reserve site for the one proposed at Earsham. For my part I think this is ill conceived, it fails to tick several of the criteria boxes:

1    Such as, proximity to the existing residential area,

2    Close proximity to a dangerous junction on the A143, where traffic from the Beccles direction comes down the hill, frequently in excess of the current speed limit.

3    On this site a planning application for housing was refused by the District Council in 2007 “because of its adverse impact on neighbouring properties”. Surely that is sufficient reason alone for refusal.

One point in the meeting gave me cause for concern. That being the Comment by Tony Fielder that a petition in the village would have no more weight than a single letter of objection. Where is democracy going?

Personally, I am opposed to this location, and urge the residents to object and tell the District Council by letter or e-mail why they object. If you want a few notes of suitable words please have a word with Richard. For my part I think a petition would be a good idea, in order to give it weight the petition must have the names and addresses of everyone who signs it, this way each resident can be considered individually.

One of the purposes of this Blog is to give residents an opportunity of writing to me about the proposal. Of course, I do not represent you on the District Council, that job is done by my colleague Cllr Tony Game, but I can assure you I will make all information available to Tony, and also to the Officers at Long Stratton.

Please post your comment now!

We have now received the latest information from South Norfolk District Council. They have started a new consultation on permanent traveller sites and I’m pleased to say that the Kirby Cane proposed site has been down graded. there are three proposals for sites along the A143, two of these are at Earsham and one at Brockdish. Whilst I agree that we must all remain vigilant in case of any changes, it does seem very unlikely that the Kirby Cane site will be proposed. Congratulations to you all who sent in letters of comment and objection, and particularly to Richard Lees who co-ordinated the village comments. It also shows credit on our District Council who listened to the residents.  Tony

It seems a peculiar thing to begin a Blog about Toft Monk’s traffic problems by congratulating Thurton on the improvements carried out in their village to the A146. But these improvements are good, their County Councillor has been much more successful than I have been, in achieving, a wider road near to the bus stop, a speed restriction to 40mph, a new quieter tarmac surface to reduce traffic noise for local residents, lane seperation lines picked out in red.

Toft Monks has similar problems to Thurton and in some cases the situation is worse in Toft Monks and like Thurton these issues must be addressed.

1.  The general limit through the village on the A143 is 50mph, in Thurton it is 40 but Thurton does not have nearly as many houses fronting the road. Toft Monks has some 20 houses with their exterior walls within 5 meters of the carriage way.

2.  The pub in Thurton is about 30yds from the A146 in Toft the outside wall is right on the foot-way, heavy lorries are a real noise creator for the guests.

3.  The speed limit through the village is “National Speed Limit” in this case 60mph. This is crazy to come off a road where the limit is 50 to enter the village where you can increase to 60.

4.  There is no sound redeuction coating on the A143 but all of the houses are much closer to the traffic.

The purpose of this Blog is twofold, one, to provide a platform for residents and other interested parties to comment on the current position and so form the basis of a petition, and two, to invite The County Council Cabinet Member to accompany me together with the Parish Council Chairperson on a site visit.

I will also be advising the Planning and Transportation Director and other officers of the existence of these comments.

Please use this Blog to support the request for improvements similar to those in Thurton.

On my Blog you will see a Blog about the land fill site at Aldeby that I published  on March 5th, I referred to some scare mongering about the further use of the pit. If you read the Bi Monthly you will see what I mean in an artice written by their correspondent Phil Waltham . Are these comments due to a lack of understanding of the democratic process or is there another motive? If there is evidence that suggests mal-administration then I challenge him to have it published on this Blog. I will make sure it is published under whoever’s name provides the information. I will also take up the matter with County Council Officers.

I will set out, I hope clearly the current position of the County Council. The current Planning Permission for the Land Fill site ceases in 2012. Earlier this year the County Council invited all interested parties to submit proposals for  other/additional sites for mineral extraction and/or landfill or waste disposal sites. I Will make it clear, as Mr Waltham well knows, the recent consultation document to which he refers, was for consultation only and was and is not proposals emanating from County Council. The proposals may, in the future, become part of a Planning Application. That is for the developer to decide, any such application will be determined by County Council Members at a Planning Regulatory Meeting and not before.

He attempts to link this document in some way with road improvements in the area, he did the same thing in the Haddiscoe area, trying to tie it in with the scoping opinion sought by Earsham Gravels, the subject of another Blog on my site. The road improvements at Haddiscoe and at Gillingham on the A143 are both to alleviate to some degree the high accident rate on this stretch of road. I was campaigning for both improvements back in 2002, Alan Burrell, when he took over from me as County Councillor for Clavering in 2005 continued to campaign and after I was elected in 2007 I was pleased to see the proposals come into being.

I have no doubt that the officers of our County are honest people doing their job as best they can. His comments do, I believe, let Mr Waltham down very badly. He should not suggest that there is another agenda being followed by Council officers or members.

Regarding the use of country roads by large vehicles, sadly vehicles get larger and larger, some agricultural vehicles are now up to 13 feet wide and inevitably over-run the verges of our country lanes and roads. It is not against the law for the verge to be used and the Highways department will assist in making good damage as soon as possible. I will be pleased to receive information that I will pass on to Highways Department.

Regarding Glebeland’s School, I continue to campaign to make the road safer in the area of the school, see another Blog on this site.

Comments on this Blog, or any other Blog on this site are welcome.

Tony

Work is due to start on Tuesday 25^th March 2008 to improve the A143 / B1136 junction in Haddiscoe. The works include  utility diversions, kerbing , drainage, haunching and carriageway surfacing. The works will take approximately 6 weeks to complete. The work will be carried out under temporary four way traffic signals , long delays can be expected. However, the B1136 will be closed for a period of 2 days from the 28^th April 2008 to allow for the carriageway surfacing to be carried out. When the traffic signals are in operation , advisory signs will be erected warning of long delays and to use alternative routes if possible. During the road closure access will be maintained to properties within the closure. A signed diversion route will be set up as B1136 Loddon Road, A143 Beccles Road, A143 Yarmouth Road, A143 Norwich Road, A146 Norwich Road, B1136 Yarmouth Road, B1136 Loddon Road.   The County Council apologises for any inconvenience this may cause. The work which will cost £ 44358  will be carried out by Norfolk County Council’s Planning and Transportation Partnership* and their contractors.