Object
South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan (Reg. 19 Pre-submission Draft)
Representation ID: 2881
Received: 07/03/2023
Respondent: Kirby Cane Parish Council
Legally compliant? Yes
Sound? No
Duty to co-operate? No
The provisions for access to the highway do not address the wider safety issues of a potentially large number of additional vehicles using the existing highways, which residents consider are "not fit for purpose".
The plan needs to make provision for significant improvements need to be be made to the whole of the road system (not just close to the site(s)) through the village in the interests of the safety of all road users, but particularly children and families on their way to the nearly local village school.
At its meeting on 20th February, Kirby Cane & Ellingham Parish Council (KCEPC) councillors took the view that the plan was unsound because it did not fulfil the objective “to protect village communities and support rural services and facilities” because there was no indication that the whole of Mill Road, the village’s arterial highway, which is already considered by residents not to be fit for purpose, especially around the junction with Mill Lane would be improved. Mill Road as a whole is too narrow, and the western end towards the school plagued with hazards, leading to the dangerous junction with Church Road. Concerns were also raised about the junction onto the A143, where joining vehicles have to deal with poor visibility while trying to turn into 50-mile-an-hour plus traffic.
As previously mentioned, this site would inevitably put more pressure on the dangerous junction of Mill Lane and Mill Road, and is classified Red by NCC Highways, although once again a HELAA score of Amber is given – the existence of a footpath from Florence Way to the Mill Lane/Mill Road junction is really inconsequential as this has no bearing on the ability of cars to access the site safely. Concern was also raised about the ability of the existing private highway infrastructure within the Florence Way development to cope with the extra traffic that would be required.
Councillors took the view that the requirements for the site laid out in the plan do not comply with the duty to cooperate as residents' views have not adequately been taken into consideration.
The attached image shows how far vehicles need to pull into Mill Road from Mill Lane (a junction on a blind corner) in order to gain visibility for turning right towards the centre of the village.