Florence Fields: Where Are The Cycleways?


I've looked into this a bit more and it seems that the two councils agreed an amended phasing plan with the developer that one of them co-owns, tucked away on a new planning application reference 21/01873/DISC_L so I wasn't notified.

Instead of the cycleway along Parkway to the primary school (replacing the "chicken-game" slaloms) being open before first occupation, it now only has to be done before 85th occupation. The Queen Mary Road improvement and 20mph limit only has to be before 95th occupation. The Queensway cycleways and nearby crossing of Gayton Road only before 105th. These deadlines may even be later if the agreement wasn't signed promptly. This is significant backsliding compared to "before first occupation" and the other deadlines, to put it mildly!

Once again, the councils put cycling last in practice. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let a housing development open without carriageways in place at all.

online.west-norfolk.gov.uk/onl…

!KLWNBUG General Chat #2101873FM #FlorenceFields #WestNorfolk #PlanningApplication #approvedDevelopment #Gaywood #cycling #space4cycling

reshared this

Anger as £5m roundabout for crash blackspot in Norfolk put on ice

north-east of the existing Hempton Green Road/Dereham Road Crossroads junction, in January 2023.

But, on the advice of officers, the Reform-led cabinet at the council agreed on Friday (September 11) to reallocate the £4.9m for the scheme, because of a long-running wrangle over legal and land-related matters associated with the project.

The cabinet agreed the money should instead be used for other improvement and structural maintenance schemes and to trial what officers described as "maintenance innovation trials".

edp24.co.uk/news/26544508.norf…

#Fakenham #northNorfolk #cycling #safety #roaddanger #KLWNBUG #PlanningApplication !KLWNBUG General Chat

reshared this

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

48 x leisure holiday homes, Tydd St Giles Golf And Leisure Centre


I think some !KLWNBUG General Chat are interested in this, but it's #approvedDevelopment so there's not much anyone can do now, as long as they stick to the plans.

#FYR220368F #TyddStGiles #PlanningApplication #KLWNBUG

KLWNBUG General Chat reshared this.

I have mixed feelings about articles like this. There is good practical advice in there, but it's basically a compilation of adverts while failing to ask why is bike theft so widespread - and no, it's not the fault of students using cheap locks like the article implies - and why do most constabularies seem to do little to police it? Instead, they're far more likely to put out victim-blaming stalls and act as free salespeople for the BikeRegister data broker.

Students: as cycle thefts soar, here’s how to protect your bike

theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…

#cycling #biketooter #bikeTheft

reshared this

Unknown parent

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

MJ Ray

Maybe they found some $30 U-locks that some scammer says is angle-grinder resistant.

I locked my bike up outside the dorm kitchen window and outside office windows for a year, then a student house shed replaced the dorm. It wasn't stolen. But that was long ago. These days, I agree with getting a folding bike now and finding a way to take it in, such as sliding it under the bed.

MJ Ray reshared this.

friendica - Link to source

!Friendica Admins

Dear all,

I'd like to start my own Friendica instance and I need some help about how to configure (from a HW and SW point of view) the VPS I'm going to buy.

Some more information about what I'd like to build...

  • Friendica personal instance with only 1 user (me) posting on average 1 post a day;
  • No one will complain if:
    • it crashes a couple of times a week
    • all the DB gets corrupted and must be reinstalled;


Entry level configuration offered by my VPS provider (cost: 5 € / month):

  • 1 core
  • 1 GB RAM
  • 50 GB SSD


Next level (10 €/month):

  • 2 core
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 100 GB SSD


According to Friendica system requirement, 2 GB of RAM is the minimum but considering the low expectations I have on my instance, do you think I must really start with the 4 GB option above?

They sell BitNinja for 26 €/month more. This is too much for me. Do you think BitNinja is a must and it wouldn't make sense to even start without it, or I could just try?

Thank you for your support.

Ciao,
Max

This entry was edited (2 months ago)

reshared this

Unknown parent

friendica - Link to source

Leander (Fossfan)

 — (55.7029296 13.1929449)

@Andre Seesink @Max - Poliverso 🇪🇺🇮🇹 I'm very curious what issues you ran into and how you solved them. I been installing and reinstalling Friendica 3 times on 2 different hosting providers. On the surface it all works fine. But posts from my Friendica are not mirrored on other servers. Like when I try to post to this group. The post just stays on my server and sits in the deferred queue.

I'm using 2VCPU, 4GB RAM, 40GB disk space. Ubuntu 24, PHP 8.3, MariaDB. So far only one user (me).

But the site won't communicate with the outside world, which sort of defeats the purpose.
github.com/friendica/friendica…

This entry was edited (2 months ago)

Council Approves Active Travel Car Park with "Avoidable Safety Risks"


The media in this post is not displayed to visitors. To view it, please log in.


Newsflash: Council Approves Active Travel Car Park with "Avoidable Safety Risks"


As we feared, the planning committee was pretty much told that there were no grounds to refuse permission for the 236-space car park by Nar Ouse Way with its 55-space bike shed. Some noble councillors resisted this strange advice and voted against or abstained, but enough voted for to permit construction of the car park.

Strange advice? Well, here is the UK Department for Transport's standard layouts grid in the design manual (known as LTN 1/20) for a junction used as a key cycling and walking route:
Figure 10-13 from LTN 1/20 showing suitable crossing layouts.
And this is what the current design of the car park has:
Excerpt of the development plan showing a crossroads with wide sweeping corners and absolutely no visible provision for walking and cycling traffic between points 2 (the bike shed) and 8 (the route towards town and the primary network).
Can you spot the zebra crossings where car park users have to give way to people walking and cycling between the hub (aka bike shed, on the right, marked with a 2) and the walking and cycling route (on the left, marked 8)? Any give-way markings? Even any dropped kerbs? No, you can't because there are none shown! Councillors were repeatedly told things like this layout has been reviewed and approved as safe, despite NCC Highways last correspondence on the subject on 9 February (Ref:9/2/25/1783) clearly stating:

"However, concerns remain regarding the proposed crossroad junction on the site access road serving the Travel Hub to the south and the parcel to the north. A crossroad layout introduces avoidable safety risks, and the generous junction radii currently shown may encourage higher vehicle entry speeds.

That said, the Highway Authority acknowledges that both the site and the access road will remain privately managed and are not intended for adoption.

Whilst a mini-roundabout or an alternative junction form would be preferable to the crossroad arrangement currently proposed, it is unlikely that a formal objection could be sustained."


I (MJ) feel that this alone should have been reason for refusal under the National Planning Policy Framework Chapter 9 and the borough Local Plan policy LP13 on Transport that requires "integrated and safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists". NCC Highways won't (possibly can't) enforce the borough's transport planning policies. The borough council should do that and keep its residents safe.

At least if anyone is injured on that unsafe layout, I expect the insurance companies and solicitors acting for the victims will accuse the borough council of permitting and building something despite being told it had avoidable safety issues. The current council are sowing a whirlwind for a future council to reap. (Of course, I'd prefer it if they built it better now and avoided anyone getting injured unnecessarily.)

More on this later, but if you really want to see how your councillors work for you and questioned this in detail, and which ones stood up for people walking and cycling, you can watch the full 90 minute discussion near the start of this youtube video (after they've taken a roll call, declared interests and so on):

youtube.com/watch?v=gUI4fpa776…

As ever, thank you to the borough council for making it so easy to access recordings of their meetings and thank you to the councillors that listened to our concerns. But no thanks as a whole for approving another massive car park with "avoidable safety risks", making the active travel budget pay for it and failing to require developers to follow the National Planning Policy Framework, Active Travel England Standing Advice or the Local Plan.

More on this to come in future articles...


New housing estate beside A149 coast road set for go-ahead despite strong opposition

edp24.co.uk/news/26289118.plan…

No planning reference, so check whether this already has a tag.

#PlanningApplication #WestNorfolk #Snettisham #KLWNBUG !KLWNBUG General Chat

KLWNBUG General Chat reshared this.

Roadside café given go-ahead to add canopy and outdoor seating

The plans can be viewed in full on the North Norfolk District Council planning portal, using the reference: PF/26/0974

edp24.co.uk/news/26283133.go-a…

Does it have bike racks?

#PlanningApplication #northNorfolk #cycleparking #KLWNBUG !KLWNBUG General Chat

KLWNBUG General Chat reshared this.

Maybe those living in these areas should see if we can have bug involved and get cycle routes completed and connected as part of this project?

lynnnews.co.uk/news/four-key-j…

!KLWNBUG General Chat #KLWNBUG #cycling #cycleroutes #kingslynn #gaywood #fairstead #southLynn #northLynn

KLWNBUG General Chat reshared this.

Rally sees more names added to ongoing petition

councillor Alexandra Kemp said the message the gathering wanted to send to West Norfolk Council was "no traffic, no car park or development on Harding’s Way or Harding’s Pits".

lynnnews.co.uk/news/rally-sees…

!KLWNBUG General Chat #biketooter #cycling #KLWNBUG #WestNorfolk #kingslynn #southLynn #norfolkcountycouncil #Norfolk #norfolkuk

reshared this

This section resonated with me: "the political journalist and comedian Matt Chorley took me to prime minister's questions. I had never attended before and I left feeling dispirited."

That's often how other campaigners react when they come to a council meeting. They're horrified by the rudeness and point-scoring overshadowing any substantial or serious debate or even discussion.

For all democratic activists try to reject the widespread narratives that politicians are dirty or corrupt, often spread by other politicians who seem even more dodgy in the "gifts" they accept, sometimes council members really don't help! One of the worst I remember was a cabinet councillor insulting the asker of a public question, but stuff like not paying attention and asking what was being voted on doesn't help make councils look worthwhile.

Will restructuring help, with the remaining councillors having to devote more time to handle all the topics that used to be split between County Hall and King's Court? I don't know. It probably won't be worse than what's happened in the last 15 years. Maybe the new leaders can learn from Philippa Perry's advice to Andy Burnham?

Philippa Perry: Prime ministers change, but the problems stay the same. Here's my advice for Andy Burnham

thenerve.news/p/philippa-perry…

MJ Ray reshared this.

July Bulletin


SAVE HARDINGS WAY EVENT 4 JULY Thank you to everyone who answered the Masterplan consultation despite the awkward website. As you know, one of few bad ideas in there was a car park on the edge of South Lynn that would be accessed by driving in the south end of Hardings Way cycleway/busway and turning right across outbound traffic, basically resurrecting part of an old plan which was abandoned due to opposition from the community including BUG. The Community is staging a United for Nature […]

SAVE HARDINGS WAY EVENT 4 JULY

Thank you to everyone who answered the Masterplan consultation despite the awkward website. As you know, one of few bad ideas in there was a car park on the edge of South Lynn that would be accessed by driving in the south end of Hardings Way cycleway/busway and turning right across outbound traffic, basically resurrecting part of an old plan which was abandoned due to opposition from the community including BUG.

The Community is staging a United for Nature Event for No Car Parks or Development on Hardings Way on Saturday 4 July 10.30 - 11 am at Hardings Way Bus Gate, near Wisbech Road, South Lynn, and we have been invited to attend by County Councillor Alex Kemp, Borough Councillor Charles Joyce and Kevin Waddington.

This will be a family-inclusive event, so please share the invitation with your family, friends, councillors and anyone who cares about nature, cyclist or not. Guest Speakers will be Wise Owl and other Animals.

The Community of South Lynn needs more, not less green space, for its health and wellbeing and in the recent consultation residents said they want more green space and safer cycle lanes. Putting motor traffic on Hardings Way would make the cycleway less safe, with drivers turning across cycle traffic to access the car park. Transforming the two brownfield sites into a Space for Nature, not a car park, would create more Greenspace.

Please go along and support the event on Saturday morning. We've stopped similar stupid ideas before and we can stop it again.

DayRide Sunday 5th July 10.00amLynnsport A ride to Snettisham Beach. There is a café, also fish and chips, or bring a packed lunch for picnic on the beach. About 32 miles.

Chat and Plan Social meeting Thursday 9th July 7.45 for 8pm at Ferry Lane www.KWLNBUG.co.ukfor details of current campaigns and comments on development places.

DayRide Sunday 12th July 10.00amLynnsport A ride to Fork Handles café, Stow Hall. About 34 miles.

DayRide Sunday 19th July 10.00amLynnsport A ride to West Raynham for their annual open day. There will be a hog roast, BBQ and café. About 40 miles.

Day Ride Sunday 26th July 10.00am Lynnsport A ride to North Creake Abbey café. About 48 miles.

reshared this

Less power for county councillors as RUK cancel a "localism" measure of the previous Conservative leadership and divert nearly £1m into their control.

Reform accused of 'pettiness' after axeing £11k councillor cash for road schemes

edp24.co.uk/news/26226405.refo…

!KLWNBUG General Chat #KLWNBUG #norfolkcountycouncil #norfolkuk #transport #highways

reshared this

in reply to Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

The £11k cap was already too low for it to be useful for 20mph speed limits. Even using it for a 3.5T weight limit (which is cheaper to advertise and less vulnerable to objections burning through the money) to discourage port traffic through a residential area during congestion required two councillors to pool their funds for the same year.

KLWNBUG General Chat reshared this.

'Off-grid' holiday cabins planned for fishing lakes at nursery

Three Lakes Nursery has applied to install six converted shipping containers near its coarse fishing ponds off Meadowgate Lane at Emneth, near Wisbech

edp24.co.uk/news/26223779.new-…

#cycleparking #PlanningApplication #WestNorfolk #Emneth #KLWNBUG !KLWNBUG General Chat

KLWNBUG General Chat reshared this.

And now some good news.

25/00974/F Removal of Conditions 10, 11 and 12 of Planning Permisison 20/01739/F
Variation of conditions 9, 10 and 11 of planning permission 18/01533/OM
Land At Freebridge Farm - Cyclescape

klwnbug.cyclescape.org/threads…

Result! Something like the original direct crossing seems to be coming at last! Only took 8 years...

#KLWNBUG #PlanningApplication #WestNorfolk #Freebridge #2500974F #cycling !KLWNBUG General Chat

reshared this

Ministers want 60% of pupils in England actively travelling to school by 2035

including "The new cycling and walking investment strategy, being formally unveiled on Friday, also includes a target for at least 55% of shorter urban trips to include some active travel, also by 2035"

theguardian.com/politics/2026/…

#cycling #biketooter #KLWNBUG @KLWNBUG General Chat !KLWNBUG General Chat

Holiday lets could be built near the middle of nowhere as plans lodged

edp24.co.uk/news/26179515.four…

reference: PL/2026/0489/FMIN

#PL20260489FMIN #KLWNBUG #PlanningApplication #Sparham #Breckland #norfolkuk @KLWNBUG General Chat !KLWNBUG General Chat

Another nowhere, not the one on the edge of King's Lynn

KLWNBUG General Chat reshared this.

⇧