UPDATE 31st March 2026
Cllr Young, on behalf of the Parish Council, has been making further enquiries with Norfolk County Council Highways –
‘Lyng Parish Council have been advised by Councillor Gordon Bambridge (Breckland Council) that Norfolk County Council Highways committed to regularly monitor traffic/roads through the village of Lyng after the construction of the NDR, and in the absence of a dedicated road to link up with the A47 West of Norwich.
I also remind Highways that there has been a motion camera 24 hour monitoring survey undertaken by Lyng Parish Council prior to the commencement of the A47 dualling. The data from this survey was shared with both the traffic Police and yourselves.
Taking the above in to account, I put it to you that there should in fact already be sufficient data from recent years to compile a new feasibility study, thereby saving unnecessary expenditure and manpower.’
The following response was received from Norfolk County Council Highways –
‘The issue of a weight limit for Lyng has become more complex, as several different departments have had involvement with this request in various ways over the years. We have made enquiries with the relevant teams and are currently awaiting their responses so that we can gather all the necessary information and fully understand the situation from each department’s perspective.
Once we have this information and are able to confirm how it affects the matter, we will update you straight away.
I am sorry for any delay, but as I am sure you understand, we are dependent on the response times of others.’
The Parish Council will continue to post updates as they become available.
The Parish Council would like to thank residents for their emails regarding the poor state of the roads around Lyng. The Parish Council are doing all that we can to try and get something done. A letter was sent to Highways highlighting these concerns and a copy of this letter can be read below.
Highways response to concerns raised –
The Parish Council were advised by Highways when pursuing the option of a weight limit in the Village that;
‘Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding the possibility of introducing an Access‑Only Weight Limit Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) within the parish.
As you may be aware, Norfolk County Council requires that any request for a new TRO must come formally via the relevant Town or Parish Council, representing a clear community consensus.
However, for this specific type of restriction, it is important to outline the necessary steps and associated costs before such an application can proceed.
For an access‑only weight restriction, a full feasibility study is required before the county council can consider progressing a TRO. This study is necessary to assess compliance with TRO policy criteria, such as traffic conditions, safety implications, suitability, and likelihood of enforceability.
Based on similar schemes, the cost of undertaking such a feasibility study is typically between £6,000 and £10,000. As the county council currently does not have the resources to fund this work — particularly as a previous request for a similar restriction in this area was unsuccessful — the parish council would need to fund a feasibility study.
Once completed, the study would need to be forwarded to us for review as part of any formal TRO request.
If the study demonstrates that the restriction meets the necessary policy thresholds, the parish council would then be able to submit a formal TRO application. The cost of processing a TRO — including statutory consultation, legal drafting, advertising, and reporting — is typically in the region of £9,000 to £12,000.
This fee would be required upfront at the point of submitting the TRO request.
It is also important to be aware that TROs involving access‑only restrictions and freight restrictions often attract objections during statutory consultation. Norfolk County Council’s TRO guidance confirms that, where objections are received, these must be resolved through correspondence or reported to the cabinet member for determination. This process can extend programme timescales considerably.
In practical terms, a scheme that receives objections can take in the region of two years to progress from submission to implementation.
Given current timescales, it is therefore highly likely that — even if the parish council were to fund and submit both the feasibility study and the TRO application — the implementation date would fall beyond the opening of the A47 improvement scheme.
NCC does not prioritise Access‑Only Weight Limit TRO’s due to their ineffectiveness and lack of formal enforcement, which is very difficult to achieve given the reasons highlighted previously.’
The Parish Council further questioned the requirement for a feasibility study given that a weight limit was considered back in 2019, the Parish Council has continued to monitor vehicle movements via the SAM2 and traffic surveys have been carried out, but was advised the following. Cllr Young continues to raise concerns with Highways.
‘a feasibility study cannot be done at the moment, the nearby A47 roadworks are temporarily changing how drivers move around the area. This means that any traffic or HGV counts we collect now wouldn’t reflect the normal pattern of use.
If we carried out a feasibility study during the works, the data would show artificially high or distorted traffic levels, which could lead to incorrect conclusions about whether a weight limit is necessary or effective.
To ensure the study is accurate, reliable, and able to stand up to public and legal scrutiny, we need to collect data after the new road has opened and traffic has settled into its natural pattern. This ensures we base any potential weight restriction on genuine long-term behaviour, not temporary diversion effects.’