East Harling council confident a fix to HGV woes will be found
Harling Parish Council states it is “optimistic” a solution to the village’s long-standing heavy goods vehicle woes is in sight, as Norfolk County Council investigates potential fixes.
County council officers began monitoring traffic travelling via East Harling’s B1111 road earlier this year, after a unanimous vote by the Environment Development and Transport (EDT) Committee to seek improvements in light of repeated complaints of disruption and damage caused by HGVs.
Residents have expressed concerns that the village’s tight corners and narrow lanes are inappropriate for HGVs, prompting calls from local councillors and South West Norfolk MP Liz Truss for a road hierarchy review.
Kate Filby, Harling parish clerk, says they are hopeful the county council’s findings, due in September, will concur with their own studies, which suggested many lorries used the village “unnecessarily”.
“We understand that we can’t expect a total ban of lorries through the village, but we need to see how many are using it to take a shortcut,” she told the Diss Express.
“There is an average of 280 lorries per day, but they need to look at which ones need to be there.
“Our hope is there will be a very high percentage of HGVs that have no need to be coming through the village and could be re-routed.
“The committee did agree that something needs to be done, and we are happy this is happening quite quickly.”
As well as tracking the size and type of vehicles and their purpose, the county council investigation will look at how surrounding roads could be affected if HGV access in East Harling was limited.
Consultations are also set to take place with haulage companies and bodies such as the Road Haulage Association, to determine if drivers could utilise more suitable routes.