News From The Woottons

Borough Councillor Richard Coates writes about what's happening in The Woottons.

The Parish Councils

It’s quite surprising how much work some of the parish councillors on the two Wootton parish councils do in looking after our parishes. I attend most of our parish council meetings and listen to the reports that are made each month by the various councillors, of the work that they have done for our communities and one can only applaud these public spirited citizens. It’s clear that they work on the things that are of interest to them and where they have some experience and ability and I think that more local people could step forward, not just in The Woottons but I’m sure in other parishes where Town and Around is read. The first step is always the most difficult but I’ll make it easier by providing information about your next parish council meeting. Just email me - address below.

By-Election

In October’s Town and Around I was able to bring you the result of the County Council by-election for Freebridge Division which is mostly made up of The Woottons, even though it was after the official deadline for copy to be sent in to The Editor. She even added a short addition and I’ll expand on that now because I had a couple of readers contact me about it.

The seat had been held by the Liberal Democrats but they didn’t contest it at the by-election which was won by Independent Simon Ring. In his election leaflet he had told voters “I believe local Councillors can better serve the majority when they are not constrained by party directives, and I see the Independent movement gaining traction even at higher levels of government”. Election day was on a Thursday, the count was on the Friday and by the Monday, rather than joining the other Independents such as Jim Moriarty and Alexandra Kemp, he was officially recorded as Independent Aligned with, the Editor notes, the Liberal Democrats. Those who have contacted me feel they have been misled into voting for someone who obviously always intended to align himself with the Liberal Democrats whilst officially claiming to be Independent. Well, they will have their opportunity to change their vote in just a few months because all county council seats throughout the country will come up for re-election in May 2025. We’ll be able to see how the votes add up for Simon Ring when he then, presumably, declares he’s no longer as independent as he once felt he was.

House on the Green

Many readers will remember this pub with its bowling green at the back and children’s playground. The bowling green is now a building site for 5 high quality 4 bed houses, four of which have been sold, I’m told, but none of them can be occupied yet for two very good reasons. The first is that they’ve only just got the services connected to the site which is why Ling Common Road was completely closed to traffic for over a week in early November and the second reason is a planning condition imposed by the Borough Council. It only gave planning permission for the houses to be built if the owner would agree to submit a plan that the Council approved for the pub to be restored and marketed, and then implement it, before any of the houses could be occupied. Well, the owner feels it's going beyond what’s required because its got planning permission for all the restoration work and, rather than marketing the planned restored pub, it intends to actually carry out all the building work starting immediately and have it all finished by next October when it will open and operate the pub itself. If this happens, it must be good news for The Woottons to have a second pub/restaurant in addition to The Swan Inn at South Wootton. It’ll help to put The Woottons on the map as a dining destination and attract more people to the area as well as provide a service to local North Wootton residents again.

Knights Hill

Knights Hill is rarely out of the news but these days it seems to be linked not with the traditional Knights Hill village hotel complex but with controversial decisions taken Norfolk County Council without reference to local people. And so the saga continues. This time it’s to construct a bus lane on Grimston Road at Knights Hill and a bus stop for two buses to wait at a time outside the farm shop there. I’ve read that there is one bus an hour that goes by that farm shop which sometimes is open but has had times when it has been completely closed because, I’ve read, it’s not been economic to open it. With the pressure on small businesses from the latest budget, we may see the farm shop closing again with even less call for the bus stop outside the farm shop! The proposed bus lane would run for only a very short distance. About a hundred yards in my rough estimate. They’d be another double bus stop on the opposite side of the road. Now the County Council is consulting local people: you can offer your comments but only between 4 and 25 November. After that you’re too late! I don’t know what the cost is going to be, someone on Facebook says it’s a £1.7m government grant and, if true, you now know where part of this giant black hole is that the new government has been talking about.

Planning Appeal

The Borough Council turned down a planning application for a property at Little Carr Road, North Wootton and the applicant appealed against that refusal. Planning appeals are heard independently of the Council by the government’s Planning Inspectorate which appoints a Planning Inspector to review the Council’s decision and inspect the site. I looked at the Council’s planning file recently for this property and found an email from the Planning Inspectorate that said “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the appointed Inspector cannot proceed with writing a decision on your appeal and as such the appeal needs to be appointed to another Inspector and a further site visit carried out”. Most odd. We’ll always wonder if the first Inspector’s decision would have been the same as the second Inspector’s decision.

Heads You Win, Tails You Can’t Lose!

I like this game, it’s also called “Free Money for Wootton Groups” and those of you who have read my column before, know that I have free money from the Borough Council to give away to local groups doing good things in the area. I did have £1,000 but £200 of it has gone to the Priory Rotary Club of King’s Lynn to help them plant and seed a new perennial wildflower meadow near the footpath that leads from Nursery Lane to Wootton Park. Now, who else wants some of my pot of gold? A craft group? Scout or guide group? Old persons’ lunch club?

To contact me on anything about The Woottons, email me at cllr.richard.coates@west-norfolk.gov.uk.