Sheringham Town Council drives forward roundabout campaign after success of Felbrigg scheme
Campaigners pictured last year at the A148 Sheringham junction. Left to right, district councillor Richard Shepherd, Sheringham Chamber of Trade chairman Andy Bullen, town mayor David Gooch, cllr Brian Hannah and cllr Doug Smith. Picture: ANTONY KELLY - Credit: Archant
Sheringham Town Council is driving forward a campaign to have a roundabout installed at a junction dubbed an 'accident waiting to happen', after seeing a similar, £619,000 scheme at Felbrigg cut traffic speeds and improve access.
Felbrigg roundabout, which opened last week. Picture: ANTONY KELLY - Credit: copyright ARCHANT 2017
The Felbrigg roundabout, which was officially opened last week after a 10-year campaign, was part-funded by Norfolk County Council, with cash amounting to nearly £200,000 coming from external sources including Cromer's Westerleigh Crematorium, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, Cromer Town Council, North Norfolk District Council, neighbouring parish councils and local businesses.
Sheringham mayor David Gooch said the need for a roundabout at the A148 three-way junction at the top of Holway Road had been identified a number of years ago, with both the town council and Sheringham Chamber of Trade agreeing that there were 'definite' road safety issues.
'This has been talked about in one form or another for two or three years,' he said. 'But although Felbrigg opening should mean we have moved up the list of county council priorities, we don't have any large sources of funding that can be tapped into in the way that they did.'
Other hurdles included the low accident count at the Sheringham junction – which would mean the site would come lower down Norfolk County Council's highway improvement priorities - and the fact that it came beyond the town boundary and is actually part of Upper Sheringham.
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'The boundary finishes at Bucks Lane, just before the top of Holway Road, which puts us in an awkward position,' Mr Gooch explained.
'However we have agreed that there is a need to set up a working party and we are recommending that the town council writes to all the surrounding parishes to see whether they would agree to that. It isn't something that will happen tomorrow, but with a working party, we can look at sources of funding.
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'Motorists do get frustrated as the curvature of the road and the fact that it is not totally flat makes it very difficult to see to turn in either direction,' Mr Gooch added. 'And although statistics say there haven't been a large number of accidents, I don't think we should have to wait for something serious to happen before something is done.'
