Costessey local reignites Queen's Hills adoption debate

But those living in Queen’s Hill are under constant threat of being trapped within their houses.

This is because the Costessey development has only one road in and out accessible to drivers, which is regularly delayed or blocked due to accidents.

Despite there being another road available, people on the estate have been banned from using it – even during emergencies - because it has been designated a bus lane.

But, after more than a decade of campaigning, people living on the estate may finally be able to start using the barred route as an emergency exit.  

Sir Alfred Munnings Road is the only route in and out of the Queen's Hills estate (Image: Google)

ISOLATED ESTATE

Construction of Queen's Hills began in Costessey in 2006 and now there are around 5,000 people living in nearly 2,000 homes.

Currently, Sir Alfred Munnings Road is the sole road that services the community but it can only be reached through Longwater Retail Park which is regularly congested with shoppers and visitors. 

And in the event of a serious incident where the road is closed, the estate is entirely cut off. 

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This has happened on more than one occasion, including in 2019 when a woman in her late teens was killed in a crash on nearby Dereham Road between a cement mixer lorry and a car at around midday, closing the road into the evening.

The knock-on effect caused traffic chaos around the Queen's Hill estate where locals claimed they could not get in or out.

In 2021, a gas main near the ambulance station was damaged, leading to Sir Alfred Munnings Road being closed for several hours and causing gridlock.

The bus lane on the northeastern side of the estate (Image: Google)

EMERGENCY EXIT

In 2015, Norfolk County Council allowed the police to open a restricted bus lane on the northeast side of the estate to general traffic if "exceptional circumstances" prevented people from using Sir Alfred Munnings Road.

But murky details over what constitutes an exceptional circumstance has kept the bus lane closed, even in times when locals believe it should be opened.

This has led Matt Long, a Queen's Hills homeowner of nine years, to dig up the promises of the past and push for something to finally be done. 

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"As a resident of Queens Hills, I am among many people impacted when there is an incident that causes the one access road into the estate to be closed or gridlocked," the 44-year-old project manager said.

"There have been numerous incidents of residents gridlocked for hours and even trapped inside the estate.

"This impacts people's ability to get to work, pick up children from schools that are not always local or miss trains and flights," Matt added.

Matt Long, who has lived in the estate for nearly ten years, said something needed to be done (Image: Matt Long) "After many attempts by the local councillors to address the issue, I took matters into my own hands in March because I was not happy with the pace of progress."

With his prompting, Matt said the police are now "looking at the finer details of the plan for if the protocol is activated and how the police team will fit into it".

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According to the consortium of developers who oversee the estate - including major names such as Taylor Wimpey, Kier and Bovis - there was a breakdown in communication between builders and the county council which stopped the Sir Alfred Munnings Road from being adopted. 

When the road becomes adopted by the council it will mean that both the main road into the development and the bus lane will be under the same authority - making it easier to coordinate an emergency exit. 

As recently as January, Grahame Bygrave, the director of community and environmental services at County Hall said officers "from all disciplines" have been working to push through the adoption.

"Further headway will hopefully continue to be made in the coming months, but this does require the complete cooperation of the consortium," he said.

Thousands of people are frequently cut off when Sir Alfred Munnings Road is closed (Image: Newsquest) "Once achieved, this will present the opportunity to meet with the developers to discuss the full adoption."

Matt hopes that with the lines of communication between the council, consortium and police restored the long-promised plan can finally be implemented. 

"If I had not stepped in then I do not believe we would have moved forward to where we are now," he said.