By Geoff Fisher Reepham Town Council, supported by County Councillor Greg Peck, is continuing to push for various improvements to paths and roads within Reepham.
Following the meeting with Norfolk Highways, which was described in detail in the last Your Council Matters (1 October 2021), the town council has been informed that a handrail will be fitted on the sloping section of path between Bircham Road and Ollands Road by the end of January.
Although our previous dealings with Norfolk Highways does not lead to optimism, we continue to push for this work to be done before Christmas.
Onshore cable corridors
While the town council is fully supportive of renewable energy, it is continuing to monitor closely the impact of the proposed onshore cable routes on Reepham.
The Vattenfall and Ørsted offshore wind farms, situated off the north Norfolk coast, plan to have their service centres at Oulton airfield.
They plan to construct cable corridors that will connect the wind farms to two National Grid substations, one between Swardeston and Stoke Holy Cross, south of Norwich, and one at Necton.
The town council has been informed that the construction of these corridors would mean up to 424 vehicle movements every working day through Cawston, from 7 am – 7 pm, Monday to Friday, and for 10 hours on Saturdays.
We have been assured by Vattenfall that construction traffic will not come through Reepham, but there will almost certainly be road closures around Reepham, which will affect vehicles coming to and from the town. It is also possible that many workers’ transport and delivery vehicles will be coming through the town.
Following a consultation letter, the town clerk wrote to Ørsted regarding the impact of its work on Reepham. Ørsted confirmed that some of its traffic will travel down Station Road then turn right on the B1145 towards Dereham. She has asked if this will include HGV traffic but has not yet received a reply.
Platinum Jubilee plans
The town council is currently co-ordinating arrangements for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.
A number of Reepham-based organisations attended an initial meeting on 6 October, which established working groups to look at various aspects of the celebrations; the group plans to meet regularly over the next few months.
Any organisation that wishes to become involved is welcome to send a representative and any individual who would like to help is also welcome to attend, but please notify the clerk (contact details below).
Churchyard walls
The town council is responsible for the maintenance of the churchyard walls, parts of which are in a poor state of repair and one part of which has been hit, yet again, by a vehicle. A working group of councillors is currently investigating the extent of the repairs required and the costs of these.
Council vacancies
Reepham Town Council now has nine members, but there are three vacancies. If you have some time to spare and would like to contribute to the work of the town council, which is responsible for a wide range of facilities and provision for the public in Reepham, we would love to hear from you.
The town council can be contacted by telephone 01603 873355 or email.
Minutes of council meetings can be found on the website.
Geoff Fisher