Ditchingham Parish Council

Planning New Greater Norwich Local Plan Consultation – The Greater Norwich authorities (including South Norfolk Council) working with Norfolk County Council) are now preparing a new Local Plan for 2026 – 2045. Earlier this year, they hosted a Call for Sites for people to submit sites to be considered for allocation in the GNLP 2045. One site in Ditchingham is shown; it is east of the play area (near to where the proposed Pump Track will be) and north of Wildflower Way and Poppy Close.

Tree Preservation Order – South Norfolk Council has issued a Preservation Order on Woodland South of Tunneys Lane Ditchingham Norfolk. This TPO has been served because of potential construction of 70 dwellings at the site in the future.

Breaking News – At the time of writing this article the PC has just heard that the land north of Hamilton Way has been allocated for 65 dwellings with a single access via Hamilton Way OR 75 dwellings with two accesses, Hamilton Way and Thwaite Road. * We consider this to be contentious. Accordingly, we will be convening a meeting of the DPC Planning & Highways Committee. It will be advertised on our notice board opposite the shop and on our website. Parishioners are encouraged to attend so we can gather views. *To see maps and more detail visit our website and read the reports in the September meeting.

Loddon Road/Tunneys Lane development – still awaiting permission Maltings Amenity Area – The BA’s Enforcement Officer has reported progress in his negotiations with PJ Livesey. We wait to see if the restoration work will be done.

Highways – Having received several communications from parishioners asking for speed reduction measures in Pirnough Street we requested a meeting with our NCC Highways engineer. He declined our request. As there have been no serious accidents at this location, he believes the present road markings and signage are sufficient.

Other Items

Fire beaters for Broome Heath – We are co-operating with Ditchingham Farms to provide a small number of beaters at each entrance to the heath. They will be in place for next summer.

Food waste collections – We have displayed posters, supplied by SNC, which invite people to scan a QR code to see when collections will start. When scanned it just says, “Coming soon.” I believe the actual date is early November for our village.

Graffiti – Recently I attended a community meeting attended by Norfolk and Suffolk police officers and the volunteers who are dealing with the graffiti in Bungay. Putting graffiti on signs and street furniture is a criminal offence, not art. There are many reasons why it is difficult to deal with culprits – limited police time; the need to catch them in the act; the burden of proof needed Etc. NCC has said they cannot supply cleaning materials but we have been buying it and have tried to remove as much graffiti, around “Chicken Roundabout,” as possible.

Community Orchard – We remain very grateful to the Bungay Conservation Volunteers (BCV) for their important work in the orchard. I thank Cllr. Van Dijk for using his machinery to cut paths through the orchard. The annual cut, by SNC, has recently happened.

Thwaite Road Play Area Pump Track Update – With several successful grant applications, and others in the pipeline, plus the use of some internal budgetary mechanisms we are approaching the point when sufficient funds will be available. We will keep you posted.

Keith Weston
Chair

Summer Fete – I think most people would agree that the fete was a great success It wasn’t possible to count visitors but, there was good footfall throughout the day. My thanks go to those who organised the event; they did a brilliant job. I also thank those who helped on the day. The proceeds were shared between the Village Hall and the Tiny Tots group. We expect to offer another fete next year.

Village pub – It’s good to see the pub reopened and, apparently, thriving. Being so close to Chicken Roundabout I am pleased to see references to it in Barwoods signage, their wi-fi password and in the cocktail menu! The Council does have concerns about dangerous parking in the Loddon Road when Barwoods is busy. We understand the pub management is doing its best to discourage parking here. We have alerted NCC but no action is proposed.

Highways – I filled in an online form to report the fallen 30/60mph sign in Loddon Road. It is “with Highways” but, at the time of writing, has not been fixed. I reported the faulty Loddon Road static speed monitor. The suppliers have told NCC it is too old to be repaired. NCC will decide whether or not to replace it. A number of residents have contacted DPC and NCC requesting traffic calming measures in Pirnough Street. We share their concerns. Parish Councils have no authority over such matters. The PC will raise our concerns, again, with NCC. A small number of volunteers have removed the graffiti from the signage at Chicken Roundabout three times. We will not tolerate this vandalism.

Public Amenity Area (Adjacent to The Malting development) – Regular readers of this magazine will know that the lack of maintenance of this area is an ongoing problem. In an effort to get progress we have badgered P J Livesey, the owners, but, to no avail. They ignore us. The Broads Authority (BA) is the planning authority for this part of the parish. Currently, there is no indication that the BA is succeeding in making the owners fulfil their obligations, under the planning permission, to “maintain the area in perpetuity.” Against this background the PC has decided to ask P J Livesey to give the land to the parish. We would require PJL to pay the legal costs of the conveyance; we will request a sum of money to pay for the initial clear up. The cost of future maintenance of the area would, of course, become a cost to the PC but it would be a very small amount per household. Residents already pay for the upkeep of the village’s other open spaces.

Proposed Pump Track for the Thwaite Road Play Area – The priority now is to raise the necessary funds to go ahead. We have drawn a blank with a number of grant awarding bodies. Sizewell – we are too far away; National Lottery – we are not in a deprived area. At the July meeting the Council found ways of making money available for the project. With the support of our Responsible Financial Officer, £50k will be taken from a budget for the repair/replacement of street lamps. Sufficient funds are left in the budget for this work, for several years, and the withdrawal will be restored over five years. £20k will come from a budget for the management of our play areas. These amounts will make grant applications elsewhere more likely to succeed since grant awarding bodies often expect match-funding. Several applications will be sent off soon.

Keith Weston
Chair to Ditchingham Parish Council