Tivetshall has no local shopping facilities and minimal provision of footpaths, except a small area near the primary school. There are no public transport facilities in the proposed development area. This means that residents have to use their own transport.

The main routes into and out of the village are via Rectory Road from the A140, or Green Lane via the B1134. Neither of these routes have pavements or street lighting.

On the A140, close to the Rectory Road junction, there is a bus stop. This service providing an infrequent (except early morning and evening) service north/south on the busy A140. There are no provisions for pedestrians crossing the A140 to reach the southbound bus stop, which makes travelling to Diss by bus somewhat hazardous.
It is currently very difficult for drivers to turn southwards on to the A140 at this junction, due the volume of northbound A140 traffic. At rush hour, drivers intending to turn south at this junction may have to wait several minutes before a suitable gap in the traffic occurs. Drivers intending to turn north at this junction cannot drive around those waiting to turn south, because the road isn't wide enough. Any increase in the amount of traffic attempting to drive onto the A140 from Rectory Road will exacerbate this issue.

If drivers feel that the Rectory road junction with the A140 has become too difficult to negotiate at busy times of day, there is only one alternative. Star Lane isn't a viable option due to it being a single track lane with almost no passing places, and the presence of the ford. The second option is Green Lane.

Green Lane is a single track lane, mostly speed de-restricted, with few passing places. Local children use this lane to walk to the local primary school or to meet the school bus. Drivers are already sometimes forced to use private driveways to pass opposing traffic, and there is a blind "S" bend 120m south of the junction with the B1134, which can prove quite hazardous. This junction can also be difficult if you are turning eastwards on the B1134 due to the speed of eastbound traffic around the (almost right angle) bend near Beck Green Farm.

Morning rush hour traffic counts on Green Lane, recorded over a 1 week period between the times of 7:30am and 9:00am result in the following averages...

Number of cars driving along Green Lane: 45
Percentage northbound: 62%
Percentage southbound: 38%

The number of times 2 cars met in opposing directions along Green Lane (based on a 1 min 50sec average time to drive the length of the lane) is 12. This figure was derived from the times 2 cars drove past a fixed point, and traced back to see if they would have met each other along Green Lane.

Green Lane clearly doesn't have the capacity to support a large increase in traffic. However, the roundabout at the east end of Station Road/B1134 is a far easier place to join the A140 than Rectory road, so it could be (incorrectly) perceived as being the lesser of two evils (ironically, particularly for those drivers intending to head south on the A140).

The proposed number of dwellings may not have such a large impact on the traffic around the village seen in the other proposals for the area.

However there is a further concern here, any commuters from this proposed development would be travelling at approximately the same time in the morning as the children at the primary school are arriving, and would have to pass the school entrance. This would not be a good situation.

The above proposed site will increase in traffic on the two access routes, this has already been mentioned on this application. The potential risk to young school children of increased traffic immediately outside the primary school entrance should not be under estimated, and for this reason the proposal should be rejected.