The pedestrian gate from St. Thomas’ Road into Earlham Cemetery was re-opened by Norwich City Council at the end of 2017, after being closed for at least twenty-five years.
There have been suggestions that our group requested the gate to be opened but this is incorrect. The re-opening was done by Norwich City Council without any consultation with Friends of Earlham Cemetery or local residents.
This is a summary of our discussions and correspondence with Norwich City Council on the subject.
- The subject was first raised at our Annual General Meeting on 5th February 2018, under “Any Other Business”.
“The subject of the gate into the Cemetery from St. Thomas’ Road was raised. This has been locked for many years but recently workmen from Norwich City Council removed the lock, so that the gate is open for access.
Concern was expressed at the increase in dog walkers that may result from this, in spite of dogs being banned in the Cemetery. Last summer there were also drug dealers doing business in this part of the Cemetery and having another gate open will make it easier for them to carry out their business.
Our Secretary agreed to write to Norwich City Council on behalf of our group to express our concerns.”
2. We wrote to Norwich City Council in early March and again in early April 2018, with our views on the re-opening of the gate.
Our concerns are:
- Disturbance to wildlife in a formerly quiet corner of the Cemetery. (The whole Cemetery east of Farrow Road is a County Wildlife Site.)
- Damage to soft paths and bulbs.
- Gate is being used by dog walkers to bring dogs into the Cemetery. (Rules prohibit dogs, other than assistance dogs.)
- An increase in antisocial behaviour.
3. We received a reply from Chris Eardley (Environmental Services Manager, Norwich City Council) in early April.
“Please find attached the substantive response sent to the portfolio holder, Cllr Packer, and to one local councillor who queried this decision. I think this addresses all your points.
There was no consultation on this because as far as we could see none was required. Officers were checking on burial space and access issues and whilst in this area it was noted that the gate had not been opened, so I instructed Norwich Norse Environmental to open it. They said it hadn’t been opened for a while, but there was nothing I could see to indicate why it was locked and it’s an original access point to a listed site – so we opened it to improve access for all.
It’s only since opening it that residents of St Thomas Road have come forward with their concerns.”
This is Norwich City Council’s full response.
4. Possible Cycle Route using St. Thomas’ Road Gate.
We wrote to Ben Webster (Design, Conservation and Landscape Manager at Norwich City Council) to give our views on a cycle path thorough the Cemetery from St. Thomas’ Road gate.
Ben has replied and told us that “At the moment there is no active project to design a path connection to allow cyclists to enter the cemetery.” and that, if a project is set up, “Consultation would be undertaken with the Friends and local residents during the design phase.”
Read our e-mail and Ben’s reply here.
5. Possible Relaxation of Rules on Dogs in Cemetery.
The Council’s response (point 3, above) suggests that the current rules prohibiting dogs in Earlham Cemetery may be relaxed.
We are against any relaxation of the current ‘no dogs’ policy, for a number of reasons.
We have sent our concerns about this to Chris Eardley, who has told us that he will pass them on to the relevant Norwich City Council Portfolio Holder after the local elections.
30th April 2018.