We'll Sort It: How Evening News campaign has fixed city problems

Launched in October with the determination to make Norwich the best city it possibly can be, the Evening News' 'We'll Sort It' campaign has prompted action to be taken and problems resolved - whether big or small.

From missing road markings to health fears, here's just a handful of success stories to highlight the scheme's success as it nears its six-month anniversary.

The Evening News' 'We'll Sort It' campaign launched in October last year (Image: Newsquest)

The missing double-yellow lines

One of the Evening News' first 'We'll Sort It' victories came following the disappearance of double yellow lines in September in Unthank Road.

Their absence caused carnage after the busy city centre street was resurfaced.

The road was left without lines for a week, wreaking havoc as parked cars were plonked where the lines - denoting a no stop zone - once were.

Although remedied swiftly after the Evening News' intervention it was met with a haphazard finish, leaving gaps where vehicles had been left at the time of the works.

The initial delay to the work - and the shoddy workmanship initially thereafter - was slammed by business owners up and down the busy thoroughfare, expressing their mounting safety concerns.

Jabs wait, sorted

Back in December, it was leaked by the Telegraph that some 300,000 housebound patients were yet to receive their Covid boosters. Norwich's David Morgan was one of them.

The 74-year-old - who lives alone in the city centre and suffers with heart, lung and kidney disease - told of how he was deemed to be high-risk, but had still not been able to receive his jab.

"It's been hard watching millions and millions of people get their jabs, and yet I’m always left until last," he said at the start of December.

"I’ve been trying for months to get my booster but I just keep being passed around different people."

This prompted the Evening News' to throw weight behind the house-bound city folk battling for boosters.

Mr Morgan then joined a cohort of other city-based patients in the same position to thank the 'We'll Sort It' campaign after finally getting his third dose later that month.

He said: "Before he left I asked the doctor why he came by so unexpected. He winked and said: ‘The power of the press’ and then he left."

Madeleine's 'obstacle course' garden

Those living at the Whitebeam Court complex in Motum Road, like 84-year-old Madeleine Carter, feared falling after paving became uneven outside their homes.

Likening the state of the pavement to an "obstacle course", Mrs Carter said that she didn't trust herself going outside, and had barely stepped out of her bungalow over a six-month period.

Her son Paul said that his was living in "fear" and had become completely reliant on others, and had asked Norwich City Council to clean up the area dozens of times since May of 2021.

Teams then replaced the path and installed new benches after the being pressured by the Evening News to ensure the safety of Whitebeam Court dwellers.

Eyesore 'mystery' hole

And an ongoing 'We'll Sort It' is the long-lived saga of the mysterious hole, which appeared outside a set of Lakenham garages in 2017, which is drawing to a close.

Fast forward five years and 74-year-old Valerie Humphries - who lives in neighbouring Suncroft with her husband Chris, 80 - got in touch with the team at the Evening News to get her out of the stalemate.

Mrs Humphries told the Evening News how she had reported the problem to the city council three times over the summer after the fencing was erected.

And these are just a handful of 'Sort Its' hurried along by our team.

Have you got a problem and could do with our help? Email eleanor.pringle@archant.co.uk.