Latest news with #Broads
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
New pool will be 'huge benefit' to Fakenham
A new swimming pool will be a "huge benefit" to a town that has been without one for over a decade, a meeting was Norfolk District Council's planning committee unanimously backed an £11m improvement plan to Fakenham's leisure centre - put forward by the council Councillor Angie Fitch-Tillett said after figures showed Norfolk had the second highest number of accidental drownings last year, the pool was needed because it was "vital that people learn how to swim".The new pool will have four, 25-m (82-ft) lanes whilst a 3G all-weather artificial grass pitch will be added to site. Its changing rooms will also be authority's Liberal Democrat leader Tim Adams said construction work could start later this year and the new facilities could open in October 2026. Referring to figures from the National Water Safety Forum, which showed 9 people accidentally drowned in the county last year, Fitch-Tillett said pools were a "necessity for people learning to swim"."Don't forget, we've got more water than anywhere else. Not just the sea, but the Broads and rivers," she members of the town's brass band had opposed the plan, because it will see the demolition of the space they had used to practice the local Conservative councillor Christopher Cushing said the idea had been "received enthusiastically by the majority of residents in the town".There has been a long-running campaign for a new swimming facility since the closure of Fakenham Academy's pool in 2014. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Top Gear
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
MG Cyberster
What even is a 'sports car'? I only ask because most of the cars that fit the accepted person-in-the-street definition aren't in fact sporty at all. Traditionally, a sports car was low to the ground, had two doors, two seats and probably an open roof. It had a powerful engine. And its top priority was driving dynamics. That's as close as you'll get to a quantifiable declaration of sportiness. Advertisement - Page continues below But is a current BMW Z4 a sports car? Was the Mercedes SLC/SLK? Don't be daft. I've heard convincing arguments that the Mazda MX-5 is too limp in the engine department and too roly-poly in the corners to really be a sports car. I choose to ignore them because I adore the current MX-5, but I sort of get their point. So, the Cyberster. It's got skin in the game here: the MGB, MGF and MG SV were all sports cars, of varying sorts. Does it do the business? Dynamically, it's a bit of a pudding. An MG engineer told me the car's been softened off again from its original European spec: they felt they'd overdone the 'stiffen it up for those aggressive-driving, B-road warrior Brits' and had to smooth the edges back off because 'it's not supposed to be a track car". For me, they slightly overdid it, allowing too much wallow into the suspension. There's a sense of top-heaviness to the car, some of which comes from the too-high driver's seat, and some of which is down to the restless damping, which never settles in one assured movement after it's been disturbed. Advertisement - Page continues below The steering is dead: a pity as I'd hoped going for the RWD 'Trophy' model would liberate the steering of corruption from the front motor in the 'GT' and unlock a bit of road feel. Not to be, I'm afraid: it's computer game stuff, without Forza 's handy re-wind feature.
