The Crawler Lanes

Plans for a proposed by-pass were in the County Development Plan approved on 15th July 1959 but no such bypass had been forthcoming and in June 1973 the Department of Transport, having responsibility for Trunk Roads, proposed to raise the speed limit through the village from 30 to 40 mph. The residents fought this and won the case to retain the limit at 30mph on the grounds of safety and noise. This meant that the Department of Transport had to provide street lighting along the main road for the length of the 30 mph limit in line with national standards. Prior to this there had been no street lighting in East Norton at all. The lights were installed in 1976 to a mixed reception. They were tall columns with low-pressure sodium lamps casting there characteristic golden glow, some say rancid orange, and visible for miles in the otherwise dark landscape.

In 1980 the Department of Transport proposed to make some improvements to the road layout at East Norton in the light of the many accidents that had occurred on the chicane at the western end of the village known as Fiddler’s Green. They also proposed to construct a third lane on the eastern approach, similar to the one already constructed on Lanclose Hill to the west of the village. This was intended to enable the overtaking of lorries struggling up the hill by the old railway station. They again suggested raising the speed limit through the village to 40 mph. The proposed bypass having been shelved due to the expense of construction in “geologically unstable ground”.

Residents were not happy with this proposed scheme and in February of 1981 the Parish Meeting resolved “That this Parish Meeting opposes the DOT’s schemes to straighten and widen the A47 trunk road, and supports the provision of a bypass.”
In March of the same year the Rt Hon John Farr MP (later Sir John) tabled questions to the Rt Hon Norman Fowler, Secretary of State for Transport, seeking abandonment of the straightening and widening schemes in favour of a bypass. The reply was that no funds were available for a bypass and that “a less ambitious improvement” was required at the western approach to reduce the number of accidents.

Owners of the properties on the north side of the A47 through the village became particularly anxious when a spokesman for the DOT suggested it would be cheaper to purchase and demolish their homes in order to widen the road, than it would be to build a bypass. This almost certainly would have happened because the houses would have prevented any widening of the road through the village. The result would have been a “bottle neck” especially with customers’ cars parking at the village shop/post office.

In June 1981 Compulsory Purchase Orders were issued to enable work to start on the construction of the Crawler Lane on the eastern approach by the old station. The Parish Meeting lodged objections, which led to the announcement in October 1983 that a Public Enquiry would be held in December. The Parish Meeting prepared the case for objection based on the “bottleneck” argument. However, in October 1983, just before the enquiry, the DOT announced that due to revised design standards for trunk roads, an affordable bypass for East Norton would now be possible. Plans for the bypass were issued. The Parish Meeting continued with the objection to the crawler lane on the grounds that it should not be constructed until after the planned by-pass was on the ground. The Enquiry was held in the Town Hall at Uppingham. The DOT won the case and the Parish Meeting was left with the task of ensuring that the promised bypass was built as soon as possible.