On This Week: King’s Lynn bus station revamp, swallows in Thornham and historic Swaffham church ceremony
In our weekly On This Week feature, we take a look back at what was hitting the headlines in 2015, as well as a picture from 1998…
On This Week: June 23 – 30, 2015
Politicians and activists from West Norfolk were among thousands who took part in an anti-austerity march at the weekend. Members of the King’s Lynn and District Trades Council were joined by representatives of the borough’s Green Party for the protest in London, which began with a march from the City and culminated with a rally in Parliament Square. The government has said its programme must continue in order to secure economic recovery, but opponents say the effects of the cuts are being seen in the continuing rise of food bank use in communities across the country.
Residents in Russett Close, Lynn, are up in arms after a developer covered with soil a small popular green area shortly before the visit of a planning inspector. People living in that corner of the Reffley Estate had spent months keeping the green space tidy and mowing the grass. They have been fighting against Boyer Investment's plans to turn the green into an access road. In the latest move, Boyer dug a trench and spread soil across the site, along with putting up new fencing ahead of the inspector’s visit.
Taxpayers are set for a hefty bill after West Norfolk Council was found to have acted unreasonably in rejecting plans for a retirement flats complex in Lynn. A government inspector has now approved the proposal for the old Lynn Silos site on the South Quay and ordered the council to pay the developer’s full costs. Last November, the council’s planning committee rejected McCarthy and Stone’s proposals for the site in a dispute over the amount it felt the developer should pay towards affordable housing in the area.
Nesting swallows are proving to be a big draw for staff and holidaymakers alike at Thornham’s Drove Orchards Farm Shop. It is five years now since these summer visitors from South Africa first decided the covered entrance to the shop would make an ideal place to bring up their young. Now three nests of mud, only a foot or so above head height, are stuck to the rafters. Two are believed to hold eggs on the point of hatching and the third has squawking hungry young. Later in the year after the young have fledged, parents and young will sit and watch customers from vantage points including special perches put up especially for them outside the shop.
Lynn’s bus station will be fully opened to services next week following a £1.6 million revamp of the site, says West Norfolk Council. For the past three months, southbound services including the 505 to Spalding and the X1 to Peterborough have been using temporary stops in Portland Street while the regeneration work is completed. Northbound buses were also moved out of the interchange for a few days earlier this month to enable resurfacing work to take place. As part of the project the interchange will become a smoke-free zone and a new bus station officer has been appointed to ensure the station operates smoothly.
A ceremony which took place in the St Peter and St Paul church in Swaffham marked the day 800 years ago, in June 1215, that a writ ordering the abolition of Swaffham’s market was issued by King John. The writ declared that Swaffham’s market, which originally traded where the church now stands, should be halted if it was found to be damaging the market in nearby Dunham. The event also marked the start of celebration events to mark the anniversary which will include a medieval festival to be held in the town during July.
Seventeen metal floodgates have been installed along Hunstanton’s promenade at a cost of nearly £139,000. The gates replace wooden stop logs and are of a similar design to the existing Environment Agency gates in Lynn. In the event of a flood alert they will be much quicker and easier to put in place than the old logs which had to be individually installed and dismantled manually. In addition, they are more secure and offer greater protection against coastal flooding.
The Barrett family, who farm on the outskirts of Lynn, are doing their bit to help secure the future of a rare breed of native pigs, by producing their own sausages. The Norfolk Large Black Pig was once very common but change in demand has seen a dramatic decline in numbers since the 1960s. There are now 80 registered boars and 315 sows. The family offers three varieties of sausage: the lightly seasoned signature pork; Olde English flavoured with sage, marjoram and parsley; and gluten free. In a bid to help preserve the breed, the family are also selling pigs on to other farmers.
