30 May: Just to update my recent post following some helpful information from David Kirk.

The scoping document, Archaeological Written Scheme, for the recent dig is from the SNC website posted as part of the developer’s planning application documentation. This document summarises the report (Archaeology South East 2015) of an earlier dig on site and in paragraph 1.3.5 states:

“Dating material was found in a majority of the features and indicates a late Anglo-Saxon and early medieval date for most of the activity on the site. There is no pottery that dates to after the 14th century and only one context that can with any certainty be said to be of 13th – 14th century date. Reliably stratified earlier material was only found in one feature, a pit that can be securely dated to the Iron Age. Undiagnostic, but most likely pre-Middle Bronze Age, struck flints were found within later contexts and are therefore residual but do indicate use of the area in prehistory.”

David also unearthed the report from the Bird in Hand dig which identified the Roman oven or several ovens (they are uncertain which) along with other finds. This is held on the Archaeology Data Service website and you read it here. It is highly likely that the full report of the most recent dig on Church Road will appear on the Archaeology Data Service web site before Heritage Norfolk produce their own version.

24 May: People have been asking the Parish Council about the results of the archaeological dig on Church Road. Norfolk Heritage confirm that the contractors working for the developer have now completed their work and are preparing their report. This will be sent to Norfolk Heritage in the next 3 to 6 months and following review it may be loaded on their website http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/. Norfolk Heritage said the findings and artefacts are consistent with the known history of the village and its medieval past.



Development Management Committee

The SNC’s Development Management Committee, which decides on planning applications made to SNC, are meeting at Swan House in Long Stratton on 3rd February from 10 a.m. Item 2 on the agenda is the 10 house development on Church Road. The agenda and full documentation for the meeting is to be found here on the SNC site. An abbreviated version including the agenda, preamble and the Wreningham relevant section is here: extract.

The application has undergone a few revisions since it was presented to the Parish Council – specifically some adjustments to site & house characteristics and the introduction of a TROD along the front of the site. You can inspect these changes via a search for the application (using reference 2015/2449) here.

The Parish Council will have representatives at this meeting to underline the rationale for its rejection of this planning application at its November meeting – see Minutes 30 Nov 2015.


The planning application from FW Properties for the development in Church Road of a site for 10 houses was displayed for parishioners to view, discuss and subsequently pass their comments onto South Norfolk Council.

The Chair of the Parish Council wishes to thank all those that came to the Hall during the afternoon of 24th and the morning of 25th November. Also, thanks for the practical assistance of John Bligh and Keith Morris in erecting and taking down the display boards, and, posting the drawings and supporting documents. The Clerk, Anne Rayner, assisted and removed the material for the next Parish Council meeting which will be on 30th November at 8.00pm in the Margaret Preston Room to discuss this planning application.

 


The Highway Rangers are planning their next visit to Wreningham. If you think there is anything near you which they could address (see list below) then let the Clerk (clerk.wpc@gmail.com) know and we will collate the request for them. Please respond by Monday 23rd November.

What they do:

  • Side out a carriageway or footway (overgrown grass/weeds or soil encroachment)
  • Strim grass verges
  • Clear verge grips
  • Rod and flush drains
  • Clean out drainage gullies
  • Clean out drainage chambers
  • Rod and flush kerb drainage off lets
  • Wash signs, bollards or reflector posts
  • Minor sign/post repairs (such as straightening and reattaching)
  • Repair minor kerb defects
  • Clear small areas of mud and soil from the carriageway.
  • Soil and seed verges

What they don’t do:

  • Repair carriageway / footway surface defects (such as potholes/ cracking), these should be raised with the Highways Dept when noticed as these are repaired by separate gangs.
  • Clear ditches (in private ownership)
  • Trim hedges (in private ownership)
  • Street Name Plates ie “High St” (these are the responsibility of the District Council)
  • Clear large areas of mud and soil from the carriageway,(District Council is the Street Cleaning Authority)
  • Clear build up of leaves from footway /carriageway,(District Council is the Street Cleaning Authority)
  • Rubbish/ litter pick (this is the responsibility of the District Council)

DISPLAY OF PLANNING APPLICATION FOR CHURCH ROAD DEVELOPMENT

On 19th August at the Bird in Hand the developers, FW Partnership, held a consultation event on their design for the development of 10 houses on Church Road in advance of producing the planning application. We understand that some 75 people attended and a number of written and verbal comments were made. These are presented in the Statement of Community Involvement produced by FW Partnership.

The planning application has now been made – see  application 2015/2449 on the SNC website.

To aid parishioners when considering the development’s planning application and to help inform the comments they may wish to make to SNC, the Parish Council is arranging to display the plans and supporting material for parishioners’ inspection at the Village Hall:

  • 24th November – 12 noon to 5 pm (possibly later)
  • 25th November – 9 am to 1 pm.

I would appreciate the assistance of volunteers to help put up the display on the Tuesday morning, assist during the display period and then take it down in the afternoon of Wednesday. Please contact the Clerk (clerk.WPC@gmail.com or 01508 570700) to advise of your availability. Thank you.


Every 13 weeks the Highway Rangers visit the village to undertake small works relating to the highways. 3 weeks before they visit they will contact the Parish Clerk and ask for suggestions of work they might tackle for the village. These suggestions will be collated from reports received from parishioners and Councillors.

Recently Richard Dellar (Highway Technician at NCC Highways) wrote to say:  “During the Ranger visit to Wreningham on 08 October 2015 the following works were carried out:

  • Hethel Road — replace finger post;
  • Ashwellthorpe Road – Strim path around stile and cut hedge;
  • Rod out and clean pipe runs and clean gullies/ off let;
  • Mill Lane  —  rod pipe runs clean gullies
  • Mill Lane —  remove silt / mud at junction and carriageway;
  • Toprow –  clean signs.”

Further to the letter from Inspector Lou Provart (on Twitter at @InspProvart) introducing himself as new into post, we have received further contact advice.

The PCSO covering Wreningham is PCSO 8174 Darrin Sore, who can be contacted via 101. His Beat Manager is PC Glenn Hambling, with Sergeant Jim Heath as his boss.

Emergency contact – 999 if you are facing an incident or crime and you need police help immediately.

Non-emergency contact – dial 101 or send a text message to 07786 200777

General enquiries – email Norfolk Constabulary at enquiries@norfolk.pnn.police.uk.

For non-emergency matters you can contact the Safer Neighbourhood Team directly at SNTWymondham@norfolk.pnn.police.uk or call 101 and ask to speak to the Safer Neighbourhood Team covering Wreningham.

Other general enquiries can be routed through Sally Sandford, CPC Administrator Wymondham, Room 1.1.73, Norfolk Constabulary, Jubilee House, Falconers Chase, Wymondham, Norfolk, NR18 0WW  Tel:  01953 424153   Fax:  01953 424181


In a previous post we were waiting for the second cabinet in Wreningham, by the School, to complete the installation and commissioning processes. This is now done. 29th September is when Superfast Broadband will be switched on at the cabinet and be available for the majority of village properties, not served by the Top Row cabinet. ISPs should now be offering these services to their subscribers to start from 29th of this month.

However, Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBfN) advise that a number of Wreningham properties, for historic installation reasons, will not have access to the Superfast Broadband. The technical rationale is beyond me, but, in simple terms, as advised to me:

  • Wreningham properties have copper telephone wiring over which they can access digital services.
  • Some, but not all, are linked directly to the telephone exchange by long runs of copper wiring.
  • Re-routing to the cabinet would need several 100 metres of additional copper wiring.
  • The increase in the wiring run would result in a digital service be even slower than before re-routing.

As yet there are no alternatives offered by Openreach under the current contract with the government and Norfolk CC. This situation has implications for the national roll-out of Superfast Broadband and is being taken up at county and national level by Norfolk CC, Liz Truss (MP) and Ofcom.

Don’t shoot the messenger! I’ll keep on at the BBfN people to see if there is a solution for those affected by this.