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Campaigners call for action over 'unsafe rat-run'

Clare Worden
BBC News, Norfolk
Reporting fromNorth Walsham
BBC Berni Marfleet standing on Aylsham Road in North Walsham wearing a yellow high-vis jacket. He has long grey hair tied in a ponytail. He is wearing a blue jumper with a grey pattern on it and black trousersBBC
Berni Marfleet said Aylsham Road was being used as an informal diversion route because of poor signs

Road safety campaigners want signs to be improved to prevent motorists from using a "dangerous rat-run" instead of an official diversion route.

Six months of work is underway in North Walsham, Norfolk, to make improvements to the junction where Norwich Road meets the A149 bypass.

Berni Marfleet, of Save Our Streets North Walsham, said the official diversion was poorly signposted and had not been publicised.

Norfolk County Council said changes had been made following local feedback and the situation continued to be monitored.

Berni Marfleet A car and a lorry squeeze down past each other in Aylsham Road as they head in different directions down the narrow roadBerni Marfleet
It is a tight squeeze on Aylsham Road for cars and lorries trying to avoid the diversion

The £750,000 project started on 6 January and will last six months.

Rather than following the planned diversion along Yarmouth Road, many drivers were using the smaller, pavement-less Aylsham Road.

Mr Marfleet, who has lived on Aylsham Road for 40 years, said: "We recognise there's going to be improvements here, and where there is some gain there is often a little bit of pain.

"The diversions have just not been managed properly. We're getting rat-running on roads that just cannot cope with it. It is dangerous."

He said he raised concerns with the council as soon as work began but securing changes had been "a hard, uphill battle".

Mr Marfleet said as well as improving signs on the official diversion route, police should be doing more to enforce the 20mph speed limit.

In a statement, Norfolk Police said: "Our local beat manager is aware and monitoring the situation. However, this is an issue for the highways department at Norfolk County Council."

The council said: "Work currently under way in North Walsham was campaigned for by local residents and will provide much needed new safe crossing facilities connecting the skate park, the train station and the town centre.

"Diversion signage has been improved following local feedback and we would like to encourage all motorists where possible to use the official diversion route, which is via the Bengate junction of Yarmouth Road to the south of the town."

Norfolk County Council said signs had been improved following local feedback

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