Residents call for crossing on 'treacherous' A10 near West Winch

Councillor Jim Moriarty backed the call for a crossing

A "treacherous" road used by "20,000 vehicles a day" could get a new crossing.

Residents living near the A10, between West Winch and Setchey, in West Norfolk, said trying to navigate the stretch was "horrendous".

Norfolk County Council (NCC) said a new crossing would be "explored" as part of a scheme for a new housing development.

Resident and campaigner, Patricia Field, said: "We have an awful problem trying to cross the road."

She added: "We can go to King's Lynn on the bus because we can pick up the bus on this side of the road.

"But if we get on the bus back home again we have a problem - we have to cross the A10 and this is virtually impossible because of the volume of traffic."

Mrs Field said some residents had been walking about 20 minutes, to the centre of West Winch to use a crossing there.

She added: "We have 20,000 vehicles a day and it's just horrendous."

Brendan Black, who has lived in the village for 60 years, said: "Thirty years ago they said they would give us a by-pass.

"This is the main road for the traffic up from London. It's treacherous."

Thousands of home planned

Jim Moriarty, county councillor and deputy leader of King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, supported the residents' campaign.

But he said a crossing would be expensive to install, and he was concerned a nearby housing scheme still did not have planning permission.

Some 4,000 houses were planned to be built over 20 years in North Runcton and West Winch.

The council said in a statement: "We are exploring options for a new crossing at the northern end of the existing A10 in West Winch.

"This could include the introduction of vehicle weight limits, new crossings, traffic calming measures and reduced speed limits."

The local authority said it had submitted a business case in autumn 2023 to the government to fund an access road, with a decision anticipated in the spring.

It had also put in a planning application for an access road for a proposed housing development to the county planning department at the end of 2023.