New cameras at Norfolk bus gate to catch rat-running drivers

Norfolk County Council has agreed that only buses will be able to use a road through a new housing development which has been built in Horsford, on the edge of Norwich.

Cameras will be installed to catch other vehicles which go through the bus gate - between the cul-de-sac ends of Memorial Road and Flag Cutters Way in the Barratt David Wilson Homes development, to the east of Holt Road.

The bus gate in Horsford will be covered with an automatic number plate recognition camera (Image: Sonya Duncan)

A planning condition imposed when permission for the new homes was granted required the developer to install the bus gate.

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But, with some traffic rat-running through the housing development through that bus gate, the county council has agreed to introduce a traffic regulation order covering it.

That will mean an automatic number plate recognition camera (ANPR) can be installed, with those drivers who are snared going through it facing the prospect of £70 fines.

Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure (Image: Newsquest)

Graham Plant, Conservative-controlled Norfolk County Council's cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, used delegated powers to agree to the order, following consultation earlier this year.

Norfolk county councillor Tony Adams (Image: Norfolk Conservatives)

The proposals were backed by Tony Adams, the county councillor for Drayton and Horsford, Horsford Parish Council, Norfolk Constabulary and Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service.

During the consultation, 41 responses were received. Of those, 33 supported the proposals and eight objected.

The location in Horsford where the bus gate will be enforced by a camera (Image: Norfolk County Council)

The objections mainly concerned associated proposals for double yellow lines on part of Flag Cutters Way and Memorial Road.

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One objector said: "The ANPR camera was something we were aware of when buying, but not the double yellows.

"If we had known about the double yellows, we would not have bought our plot.

"It will affect the saleability of our home, even more so if the camera is put up outside of our home."

But council officers said the yellow lines were needed to keep a turning area near the bus gate free, so vehicles unable to go through it could turn around.