Broads gateway village of Coltishall overwhelmed by traffic

A village on the edge of the Norfolk Broads has called for councils to tackle growing volumes of through-traffic.

It follows "huge" numbers of vehicles travelling to the national park via Coltishall, using a humpback bridge over the River Bure.

Drivers use it to avoid longer routes through Wroxham or Aylsham.

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) said it was looking at ways to improve the situation.

Locals said the situation has worsened since the opening of the Northern Distributor Road around Norwich.

Bill Musson, 63, who has lived in Coltishall for 30 years, said: "We are not the only village with a traffic problem but the situation here is only going to get worse and worse... we have got this pretty little village in the Broads National Park, but we are losing our identity."

Mr Musson's big concern was the 1,800 homes expected to be built by 2036 in North Walsham, as part of NNDC's local plan.

"Obviously the council doesn't want anything to get in the way of the local plan, but we need the infrastructure," he said.

"They want to build houses but there seems to be nothing to help us cope with it. This village was built for horse and cart, not this level of traffic."

The Coltishall & Horstead B1150 Group, has been campaigning for something to be done about the road.

Jo Copplestone, a Conservative member of Broadland District Council and chairwoman of the B1150 group, said: "North Walsham is already the largest town [in the area] with 13,000-plus residents at the last census.

"The former RAF base north of Coltishall is now home to HMP Bure, a main employer, and the Scottow Enterprise Park in north Norfolk is operating at capacity.

"When further planned development in North Walsham of circa 2,000 new homes comes forward, without any meaningful funding to improve the road infrastructure and bridge in Coltishall, traffic chaos will be exacerbated."

Tom Grant, 35, owner of Hewitt & Grant Heritage Butcher, said calls for a bypass were "a double-edged sword".

"As a business, you want more exposure to passing trade but equally the road is not fit for purpose; the village was not built for this," he said.

Mr Grant suggested more traffic calming measures and better signage could help.

William Addison, who moved to the village 25 years ago, said: "I walk to get the paper every morning. It can take six minutes to cross the road because no-one will slow down and let you cross.

"How bad will it be if new homes are built?"

A NNDC spokesman said its local plan for 1,800 new homes had been submitted to an independent examiner and would be subject to hearings later this year.

He said: "The plan recognises that this is likely to have traffic impacts elsewhere and particularly on the commuter route into Norwich via Coltishall."

He added that as part of the housing plans, from next month both North Norfolk and Broadland district councils would be "consulting on mitigation proposals for Coltishall to ease traffic congestion".

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