New Development Plans

The new A10 West Winch Access Road - not a bypass because none of the proposed measures (such as 20/30mph limits and little fences) close the current A10 to through traffic, or seem likely to achieve the claimed reduction in motor vehicles. The good news is that the new road will have a cycleway alongside and it will connect to both Chequers Lane and Rectory Lane bridges, but there are still unanswered questions about how the cycleway will cross the south end of the new A10 to join the existing route, and whether its northern end will connect to Hardwick Interchange and Middleton. The public consultation is open until 8 January 2023.

F/YR22/1256/F - 325 dwellings and other stuff, off Sandy Lane, Walsoken. Too big to summarise in a screenshot. Look for "Design & Access Statement" for the summary and "PROPOSED SITE LAYOUT" for the detailed drawing. A good amount of cycleways in there, but most are a bit wibbly-wobbly and some of them don't connect to neighbouring developments correctly (for example, one at the southwest appears to run into the back fence of an existing house). Most interesting is the plan to stop through traffic using Sandy Lane, which I had not noticed before.

Also, 20mph proposals for Downham Market (Grimshoe Road Palomino Drive Horseman Close, Bennett St Phase 2).

Continuing Work

Shall we publish an article declaring the Strikes crossing to be faulty? It's never really worked correctly, with southbound cyclists often needing to cross the stop line to be detected, movements of the sensors rendering both directions unreliable and cyclists often being stopped with long red lights even when Gaywood Road/Lynn Road is clear. Now that we're in winter again, the sensors also seem to be having difficulty detecting cyclists wearing insulated coats. Unless they change it to detect approaching cyclists and show green promptly when possible, it seems like the cycling budget has bought worse cycling.

Norfolk County Council have allowed developers to close NCN1 on Edward Benefer Way in a shabby way (no warning/diversion sign at the preceding junction northbound) to build a big wide construction entrance for the South Wootton development that will allow HGVs to swing in fast across the cycleway. We will complain again but we still have not been told whether the potentially-lethal crash hazards we warned about have been addressed. Please use the narrower south side of Edward Benefer Way if you can. Trailer and cargo bike users may need to use the road or avoid the area because some of the crossings may be impossible for longer cycles.

Good news on the A10 cycleway. Most of the vegetation has been cut back, so it's possible to ride on most of the width in most of the places. We look forward to the team returning to finish the job and kill the remaining plants before they simply grow again in the spring. They will return, right?

Revised plans have been submitted for the 1200 dwellings in March covered in January 2022 and it looks like most of our objections may have been addressed! The link out to the north looks better and the busiest internal roads have cycleways with footways alongside, not only one shared-use. It helps to have Cambs County Council also wanting LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design implemented.