New sign "blocked" by Parish Council

I am extremely unhappy tonight, so much so that my emotions took over and I stormed out from a Parish Council meeting before I bust a gasket !

In my area, Taverham North, around 85% of the houses fall in to the area known far and wide as Thorpe Marriott. This area, which features on road signs, is not a separate Parish, but is known by taxi companies, local radio, and delivery firms far and wide as Thorpe Marriott, even if it falls within the Parish of Taverham.

The Thorpe Marriott sign, which was placed by a consortium of developers more than 20 years ago, is in a state of disrepair, and urgently needs some work. But try as I might to get a council interested in repairing or replacing the sign, nobody has been prepared to take responsibility for it.

So after many months of trying, I thought I should lead by example. I decided to negotiate a deal with a local signwriter to get the sign replaced, and I would pay for it myself.

You'd imagine the local Parish Council would be delighted wouldn't you ? But no.

At tonight's Parish Council meeting, the Parish voted to ask the householder (whose wall it sits on) to remove the existing sign, and voted to "stop", even though the have no jurisdiction over me, a new sign being placed. I was prevented from speaking despite the fact that I was the only person present who had spoken to the owner of the house whose wall it is fixed to, and despite the fact that I had further information that would have clarified a number of  "what if ..." questions that were put against my offer, at no point was I allowed to address these points.

It seems ridiculous to those of use who get elected to get things done that when you want to do something positive you are prevented in doing so.

Is it time for Norfolk County Council to change their road contractors ?

Less than a year ago a mini roundabout was completely resurfaced near where I live. This was several days work, caused a lot of disruption, but was accepted by local people in Thorpe Marrott as necessary in order to prevent the roundabout deteriorating.

So what's the problem ? It already has a pothole ! Now I understand how pot holes happen. The BBC gave a helpful if slightly patronising explanation half way down THIS story, but for this to happen on a newly resurfaced and rebuilt piece of road smacks of some very bad workmanship. I have reported the pothole, but given that previous potholes reported weeks ago have not been fixed, their pledge to do the work within seven days seems innaccurate.

This wouldn't be so bad if it were a one off, but last year I tore my tyre very badly on a pothole on a newly resurfaced and rebult piece of road between Drayton and Costessey when my tyre tore of a lothole almost a yard in length. Of course, Norfolk County Council said they were not liable because they had not been previously notified of the fault. My question to them at the time was why on earth was their such sever damage to a new piece of road that had only been re-opened a month earlier ?

Given that it appears to be a running theme of work done by Norfolk County Council or their contractors, are Norfolk County Council really spending our money wisely ?

Norfolk County Council to stop gritting side roads ?

According to BBC Look East this evening, Conservative run Norfolk County Council are giving serious consideration to stopping the gritting of all side roads, with just main roads to be gritted in future. This will effectively cut off large parts of Norfolk, with roads becoming impossible to drive on and people being left unable to get off side roads on to main roads.

Where I live in Thorpe Marriott is not the flattest part of Norfolk. Marriotts way runs through the middle of Thorpe Marriott and and this whole valley will become a no go zone for buses and cars, meaning that Thorpe Marriott will be split in half because the ungritted hill will not be manageable without regular gritting. There are many other parts of Norfolk too that will suffer if Norfolk Tories have their way.

Norfolk County Council complain that some of the grit orders have been commandeered by other councils. I would ask simply why it is that Norfolk waits until January or February to order its salt and grit, presumably at sky high prices when there is peak demand, when they could have order received the grit in the summer when prices would be cheaper and delivery would be guaranteed.