Our NO 1 priority is to represent the residents of Taverham and Thorpe Marriott. We will do our best to hold both Norfolk County Council (NCC) and Broadland District Council (BDC) to account. We recognize that overall, this is a nice place to live, and we will do our best to maintain the highest possible standards.

Our Priorities Are:

• Continue to work with the Police and other agencies to crack down on Anti-social Behaviour, take a ZERO tolerance approach to drug dealing, and all the implications and damage it inflicts on communities.
• Hold NCC Adult and Children’s Social Services to account to try to ensure that all residents, both older, younger and residents with special needs or the vulnerable receive the help they deserve and need.
• Encourage NCC to work with BDC to properly coordinate street cleaning to ensure drains are not blocked, reducing the impact of localized
• Ensure potholes are dealt with promptly and road surfaces, especially junctions, are kept in a good state of
• Support local volunteer groups to remain financially viable and
• Work with the police to reduce and control speeding on our local
• Push NCC to hold private monopoly (the worst types of companies) utility companies to account to do PROPER reinstatement of paths, road verges, and public areas.
• Support local businesses by trying to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and worthless red
• Congratulations to Norwich Airport on securing Ryanair routes, plus additional holiday destination routes, it is very important (if possible) that we support our local Airport and all the jobs and economic benefits it brings to our area. We DO NOT support night flying, but we DO support more daytime flights and holiday routes.

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We will NOT support ANTI-car policies or initiatives – we realize and acknowledge the car is the preferred mode of transport for the majority within Taverham and Thorpe Marriott.

We will continue to support regular convenient local bus services and the maintenance of cycle routes for local work leisure and pleasure.

We will do everything possible to ensure YOUR money (council tax) is not wasted on anything that does not have a real visible benefit to council taxpayers, ALL government money is funded by OUR TAX. We do not condone or support “talk Shops” or virtue signally with our money.

Whilst appreciating the care and kindness provided by individual health care and care providers, we very much recognize the need for enhanced and improved provision regarding health care and local dentistry services and will lobby our MP and local health care providers to deliver much improved local capacity and service.

We will do everything to offer support to parents of SEND children in their dealings with NCC or other authorities and also support residents with advice on signposting or advocacy in their dealings with NCC Adult Social Care Services, obtaining Blur Badges (to maintain independent living).

Norwich Western Link /Dualling of A47

We strongly continue to support the Norwich Western Link Road taking through traffic out of Taverham and Thorpe Marriott, and enhancing the lived environment for all the villages around the west of Norwich, providing significant economic and road transport benefits providing a long overdue full orbital route around Norwich, it is disappointing that a vocal minority who in the main do not live in our community have continually caused additional costs and delays to this project. We are the ONLY party who have consistently supported the NWL within both NCC and BDC.

It was disappointing that although BDC had maintained a long-standing support (20 years plus) commitment to supporting the dualling of the A47 it was disappointing and bizarre that the L/D, Labour /Green administration voted not to continue this support specifically considering the part of this dualling that goes through Broadland despite BDC’s long-held position. However, the good news is that this work is at long last about to commence.

Local Schools

Taverham’s First and Junior continue to perform well, our thanks to all teachers, governors, and parents for making them the success they are. Like many parents locally we are very pleased and supportive of the improvements in standards at Taverham High School under the excellent leadership of Dr Harris and the whole school teaching and support team and congratulate THS on achieving an overall GOOD OFSTED rating. We are supportive of Dr Harrises efforts to improve standards within THS to the benefit of our children and young people.

Marriotts Park Development Proposal For up to 1,500 New Properties.

We are not against the principle of delivering new housing, this is based on proven local needs guarantees affordability for LOCAL people and is NOT detrimental to existing residents. Our position is and remains that currently, we DO NOT support this development proposal. We are extremely surprised and disappointed that Thorpe Marriott’s other councillors have supported this development at this stage WITHOUT the very necessary essential legally binding obligations to provide, this may simply be down to a lack of understanding or inexperience in dealing with the complexities of development of this magnitude. We have been trying for the past three years to secure cast iron legally binding guarantees and commitments for a new high medical /health centre to be delivered as part of the planning obligations for this development – to date Officials have not agreed or committed to the funding of such, despite some £300,000 of funding being secured for “feasibility work ” – a very unacceptable situation. Whilst these may well have been discussed there are also no actual legally binding guarantees of local infrastructure, public green spaces, sports, leisure facilities, etc. within Phase One of the proposal. In the interests of ALL within the existing community of Thorpe Marriott and Taverham, all of these should have been secured by a legally binding agreement before this application came before the BDCs Planning Committee for determination in outline form, if these were not able to be secured as suggested, ALL local Councillors (as Ken and Stuart did ) should have OBJECTED strongly to the approval of this large scale development proposal in its current form, we very much hope that this application will NOT come forward for detailed approval until such times as it is not detrimental to existing residents, and the planning gains as guaranteed through legally binding agreements.

In the meantime, our strong objection will remain.

Flooding In and Around Taverham and Thorpe Marriott

We will continue to do our best to try to hold national and local flood management authorities to account (there are 23 of them, far too many people talking about and computer modelling flooding, and not enough engineers, groundworkers, construction workers, and scientists mitigating and doing basic maintenance preventing flooding) Locally we are coordinating BDC to clear gullies, paths, and public area and NCC to clear and clean gully drains, reducing surface water flooding. The ongoing major flooding on Costessey Lane and in Ringland (both just outside of Taverham but of considerable concern and inconvenience to residents and businesses), is caused by a combination of the river not having the weed cut or being dredged. (Historically the river in Ringland and Taverham was dredged on an annual basis, thereby providing both a free-flowing waterway and banking made of rich humus silt encouraging flora and fauna and improving the environment for the habitats of wildlife and fish). Please be assured we are in discussions with NCC (as the lead flood authority) and the Norfolk Flood Alliance, whose membership consists of representatives of all the public and private bodies, to do our best to coordinate some real and positive action to improve this situation.

Taverham Newsletter.

It is with sadness that the Taverham Newsletter has ceased publication, the Newsletter has been a source of community information and news since 1965 and we will all very much miss it in every respect. We would like to pay tribute to all the volunteers, local businesses and individual advertisers who contributed to the newsletter’s success over the years, in an era of social media we know most residents still looked forward to the newsletter dropping through your letterboxes. Whilst the newsletter has ceased publication, we are lucky to have the excellent ‘Just Drayton and Taverham’ publication in our area.

Congratulations and a big thank you to all our hard-working community volunteers without their hard work and commitment to local causes and organisations Taverham and Thorpe Marriott would not be the pleasant, low-crime and welcoming place to live, work and bring up a family in. We ALWAYS work to maintain the highest possible standards in our area and hold both NCC and BDC to account, always putting local Thorpe Marriott and Taverham residents FIRST.

Don’t hesitate to contact us, we are here to help, we are not part of the system, and our job is to try to make the system work for our community.

Stuart Clancy – County Councillor – Thorpe Marriott and Taverham Contact
Phone 01603 754148
Mobile – 07837299753
Email – stuartmclancy@hotmail.co.uk

Ken Kelly – District Councillor – Taverham South
Tel. 01603 260763
Email – kennethskelly@yahoo.co.uk