Could I encourage the town council to promote a Reepham Hollyhock Walk next year?

This year the hollyhocks on Church Hill, part of Norwich Road, Cawston Road and Ollands Road have been spectacular.

Let’s hope that next year they will be even better and stupid people will not break them down as happened at the front of Magpie House one Saturday morning.

Terry Lawton, Bircham Road, Reepham

Image: Reepham Community Press

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I have read in today’s Eastern Daily Press that the application to expand the Whitwell Station campsite by adding a small number of static caravans has been turned down again, with one of the excuses being the track to the campsite being too narrow and Whitwell Road also being too narrow to cope with the additional traffic generated which with five caravans if fully occupied would probably be no more than 10 vehicle movements a day.

There will be far more traffic using Whitwell Road generated by the new housing development off Broomhill Lane but the planners didn’t object to that.

Two hundred yards of unmade road is nothing compared with the two miles of rough track leading to one campsite I visit in Yorkshire.

Every few days there are reports in the EDP about small housing developments or small business expansions being turned down by local planning departments for the most dubious of reasons, whereas they seem quite happy to permit larger developments or massive solar farms.

Bryan Gostling, Bircham Road, Reepham

Cartoon by The Norfolk Needler

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As a Reepham resident of advancing years, I have been monitoring with dismay the length of time that the bench by the bus stop on the Dial House side of the Market Place has been missing.

Eventually, I emailed the town clerk to ask when the bench might be returned. I received the following response: “The bench was removed by the gentleman who damaged it, for repair. I will chase it now.”

Bearing in mind that the bench has been absent for almost six months, I was astonished to be told that the member of the public responsible for the damage was permitted to take it away and fail to return it.

I was under the impression that the town council is responsible for the maintenance/upkeep of the benches in the Market Place.

I am sure I am not the sole resident who has mourned the loss of this bench over the past months and am appealing to whomever is responsible to reinstate it.

Ruth Buley, Bircham Road, Reepham

A bench, similar to the one above pictured in 2021, has been missing from the Market Place for six months. Photo: Hugh Ivins

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Your correspondent’s objections to the new Station Road electric vehicle chargers (Empty EV bays, full car park – a net zero own goal, 26 March 2026) would be more persuasive if they weren’t contradicted by the evidence published on the Reepham Life website.

The photograph accompanying the original news item (Green travel boosted with new EV charging points, 20 March 2026) appears to show an EV actively charging. So much for the claim that no one uses them.

The complaint about “losing” six parking spaces (looks more like five) also misses the mark. Those bays haven’t disappeared; they’ve been allocated to a growing category of vehicle.

Car parks have always evolved – for disabled access, parent‑and‑child bays, recycling points, safety upgrades – and EV charging is simply the next logical step. Modern infrastructure adapts to changing needs rather than freezing itself in a bygone era.

Public charging costs more than home charging, just as motorway fuel costs more than supermarket petrol. That’s not a flaw; it’s the nature of convenience‑based infrastructure.

And the idea that taxpayer‑funded transport improvements are some new imposition ignores the obvious: every road, bridge, streetlight and drainage system we rely on was paid for in exactly the same way.

What your correspondent also overlooks is the long‑term benefit of supporting EVs, which reduce local air pollution, cut noise, lower maintenance costs for drivers and help shield households from the volatility of global oil markets.

As the grid decarbonises, their environmental advantage only grows. Installing chargers now is how communities ensure they are ready for the next decade rather than scrambling to catch up with it.

Finally, the suggestion that councils should seek a referendum before installing a handful of charging points is unrealistic. Representative democracy entrusts elected bodies to plan for the future, not to poll the public on every lamp post and litter bin.

In short, the new chargers are a modest, sensible investment – and the published photo proves they are already doing precisely what they were installed to do.

G. Gerrard, Bawdeswell

Image: Reepham Community Press

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Forgive me for a lack of enthusiasm for the new electric vehicle charging points in the Station Road car park.

For one thing, these are the most expensive means of charging EVs, which may explain why I have yet to see any EVs using them.

For another, this car park is invariably full, and taking out six car park spaces (not five, as reported: Green travel boosted with new EV charging points, 20 March 2026) will make it even harder for all vehicles, including EVs charged elsewhere, to find a space.

And don’t forget that the funds provided by Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Investment Framework come from you and me, the taxpayer, and are part of the net zero levies, which have resulted in the UK having the most expensive electricity in Europe.

Not that any governing party asked us if we thought this was a good idea.

Michael Pender-Cudlip, Mill Road, Reepham

Image: Reepham Community Press

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In response to the letter by Martin Sullivan about the proposed sports hall in Reepham (High school sports hall dream?, Reepham Life, 31 December 2025), going back a few years, when the Broomhill Lane land was put forward by the landowner, Ian Malton from CAM Architects organised a public meeting.

The original proposal for the site was a development of 120 properties with 30% affordable and a new sports hall to be constructed by the developer within the site for school and public use.

Now the proposal is for 141 new properties with a much lower proportion of affordable homes, and a contribution towards the cost of a new sports hall to be built on high school land.

This means there will be much more traffic using the junction adjacent to the high school and the Townsend Corner junction, which is already chaotic with school buses and parents’ cars in the mornings and afternoons.

I wonder if the finance for the sports hall will ever be forthcoming?

Ken Ewing, Bawdeswell

Image: Reepham Community Press

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An interesting story on the proposed sports hall (“£1.8m kick‑start for high school sports hall dream”, 16 December 2025), but is this realistic? It reads as if the developer, Lovell Homes, has generously increased the £1.5 million to £1.8 million. But, is that really true? My understanding is that the original £1.5 million was “indexed linked” so will be increasing over time anyway.

But, let’s be realistic: the estimated cost of the building has been given at £3.2 million. So, somehow, and not taking into account inflation, the school/town will need to raise another £1.4 million for a proposed sports hall the size of four badminton courts. Perhaps it’s not yet been realised but a sport called padel has taken over and is already well supported locally.

Reepham has, by my reckoning, a fairly mixed population by age, so will there be a demand for a fitness gym beyond what is already offered by the various classes held during the day in and around the town?

Now, let’s look at how a “community hall” would become such. It will be built on what is, after all, private land. As it’s a school this will place restrictions on its use during the school day and possibly beyond.

The original £1.5 million was pledged to the high school, apparently alone, and not to the community. Which then raises an interesting question: just how might this be of benefit to the Reepham community as a whole?

Will this money go to the community if it does become impossible to raise the additional £1.4 million for the building on school land?

Martin Sullivan, Reepham

Image: Reepham Community Press

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Thank you Broadland District Council planners. The Broomhill Lane housing development has dragged on far too long and at least a decision has been made.

The Nimbys, of course, don’t like it – they are more concerned with the value of their property and their views being spoiled.

The UK clearly needs more housing, including retirement villages and care homes – and more green energy, which means more solar and wind farms, both onshore and offshore.

There will always be issues with traffic, roadworks and a lack of infrastructure but these problems won’t be solved by the anti-development brigade, who’d be happy to see such development somewhere else, rather than in their backyards.

It is time we stopped treating the British countryside as a museum piece and started seeing it as a living, breathing part of our nation’s future.

For too long, rural areas have been caught between nostalgia and neglect − beautiful landscapes, yes, but also dwindling populations, unaffordable housing and underinvestment in the infrastructure that could make them thrive.

We need more homes in our villages and market towns, not fewer. Young families are being priced out, local workers are forced to commute long distances and communities risk hollowing out as older generations dominate.

Sensitive, well-planned housebuilding, using local materials, sympathetic design and proper consultation, can breathe new life into rural Britain. It can keep schools open, sustain shops and pubs, and ensure that the countryside remains a place where people live, not just visit.

The alternative is stagnation: villages that become dormitories for the wealthy, landscapes that fail to contribute to the fight against climate change and communities that slowly fade away.

By embracing both housebuilding and green energy, we can secure a countryside that is vibrant, sustainable and fair.

B. Fulton, Wood Dalling

Image: Reepham Community Press

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Am I alone in thinking that it is not very satisfactory that the latest “View from County Hall” was on 4 November 2024 and the latest “View from Westminster” was on 6 August 2024?

Have our elected county councillor and MP nothing to say to us? Have they done nothing for over a year?

Rupert Birtles, Pettywell

The post Our elected officials: missing, presumed busy appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

Broadland District Council’s Planning Committee approved the Broomhill Lane application for 141 homes, despite the GNLP policy reducing the housing allocation on the site, stating there should now be “approximately 100 homes in total”, and officers also determining that no further public consultation was necessary, despite a requirement to do so.

This is another sad day for local democracy, not helped by the comments of District Councillor Stuart Beadle, who mentioned that a kiss on his cheek in the Market Place convinced him that he was doing the right thing in supporting the application and conveniently forgetting the 180 or so local objections made against the proposal.

We now await the outcome of the sports hall “outline” planning application, which is due to expire on 21 December.

Hugh Ivins, Whitwell

Above: The site for the proposed new sports hall. Photo: Realistic Reepham

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