An appeal has been made for a section of a busy A-road to be closed off to enable a Remembrance Day parade to take place.

John Alexander, secretary of the Long Stratton branch of the Royal British Legion, said for the last two years police had continued to allow traffic to pass through the village on the A140, despite his concerns about the risk to the safety of younger participants in the annual commemoration.

The procession currently walks from the old medical centre in Flowerpot Lane to the traffic lights on the A140 before turning right and heading in the Diss direction to the memorial opposite St Mary's Church.

Mr Alexander's particular fear was that a young guide or army cadet could be struck by a car while walking alongside the A140 after turning at the traffic lights.

He added: 'There are quite a lot of youth organisations taking part, particularly the guides and army cadets and there are probably 200 or 300 of them and I am concerned for their safety.'

He said the village had held an annual Remembrance Day parade throughout the 25 years that he had been involved and possibly for longer, while the police had always stopped the traffic for the parade up until two years ago.

Mr Alexander, who has not applied for a statutory notice from the Highways Agency to close the road, said he had been told by the police they would not be stopping traffic because the A140 was a busy trunk road, but he said the road would only be closed for a period of 20 minutes and possibly less.

This year's parade is set to take place on November 9 at 10.45am.

'We have never had any complaints from any motorists about being held up. An ambulance came through once when the road was closed with its blue lights and siren on and everybody just moved over and there was not a problem,' he added.

A bypass has been included in the Long Stratton Area Action Plan to try and relieve congestion on the A140.

A police spokesman said: 'While Norfolk Constabulary recognises the importance of this event we would continue to support similar arrangements suggested by the Royal British Legion last year which passed off successfully.

'This will maintain a high level of public safety while keeping disruption to a minimum.'

What can be done to improve the A140 through Long Stratton? Email dominic.bareham@archant.co.uk.