All Our Yesterdays: Looking back at King’s Lynn job centre pressures and homeless levels in 1992
In our weekly On This Week feature, we take a look at what was hitting the headlines in 1992, as well as a picture from the same year…
On This Week: October 15 – 21, 1992
Jobcentre staff in West Norfolk may soon be under pressure to help find work for some of the miners made redundant by the proposed closure of several East Midlands pits. Lynn Jobcentre manager, Dick Bushell, revealed that as this area comes within the East Midlands region, a number of his staff may have to go to the mining areas to help find alternative work for those affected. It will be an extra burden on the staff, who are already faced with trying to find jobs for the unemployed in this area at a time when fewer vacancies are being notified to them. Latest national unemployment figures show that one in ten people are now out of work, although the local figure has dropped slightly month on month.
West Norfolk Council has strongly defended its decision to approve last weekend’s all-night rave in Lynn which saw 96 arrests and 11 people taken to hospital. Police vehemently opposed the event when the council’s licensing sub-committee met to discuss the matter last month – and now claim they have been vindicated by the problems on the night. The council pointed out that the rave organisers, Sherwin Leisure Ltd, had presented “excellent evidence” which made it impossible to refuse the event. The drawn-out resurfacing work on the A10 at West Winch, which had to be done twice, is finished at last. The work should have been completed at the end of September, but Norfolk County Council was not satisfied with the standard of surfacing by contractor Colcon and demanded it be done again, with Colcon paying for the second round of work itself. Residents were initially angry that bumps and ramps had been left on the road.
West Norfolk Chamber of Trade is hoping that a large number of shops in Lynn will join its “free parking for shoppers” scheme to guarantee its success. Under the scheme, which is designed to attract shoppers into Lynn, shopkeepers will be able to pay for the parking of customers who spend a specified amount – around £20 – in their shops. West Norfolk Council has agreed to spend £9,000 on modifying its machines and providing duplicate tickets to enable the scheme to take effect.
Amanda and Colin Arterton will treble the size of their Lynn High Street business, the Immediate Delivery Furniture Company, when they open a new department to offer a wider range of beds, upholstery and sofa beds. Four new jobs will be created with this expansion, which has come about when the shop next door, the Furniture Warehouse, went into liquidation and the property was up for sale. With a combined experience of 40 years in the furniture trade behind them, the Artertons moved in quickly.
South Wootton’s parish council is to declare war on speeding drivers who use one of the village’s narrow lanes. Councillors have agreed to push for illuminated signs on Nursery Lane in a bid to cut down on the speeders. At the moment the road has 30mph signs at each end, but nothing in between, and now the council wants Norfolk County Council’s highways department to put up repeater signs as a reminder to drivers.
The pockets of West Norfolk rail users will be among the worst hit in the country with a 9.5% rise in fares in January – the top end of the scale for increases. British Rail is putting up next year’s fares by an average of 7.5%, which is more than double the rate of inflation, with the highest rise being at 9.5%. That means West Norfolk commuters will be paying more than £3 extra a day to travel to London and back; currently a day return ticket (arriving in London before 10am) is £35.20. There will be a lower increase of 5 per cent for off-peak travellers, aimed at promoting off-peak leisure travel.
Eastern Electricity is still waiting to hear from the Department of Trade and Industry whether it has got Government approval for the £200m 380-megawatt gas turbine station it wants to build on a site off Saddlebow Road, Lynn. And while a decision is awaited, moves have already begun to link the proposed gas-fired power station to the existing supply system.
Rural homelessness is accelerating at an alarming three times the rate of that in the large cities, it has been claimed. Mr Nic Gowling, as organiser of the newly-established West Norfolk Young Homeless Forum, is also taking new measures to promote awareness of young homelessness in the local community, saying that young people are especially vulnerable since they are not classed as priority need under statutory law.