Annual Town Meeting -Chairman’s Report 2025
“Welcome to my annual report to Town Council for 2024/2025. It’s been another busy year and I’m so pleased with way councillors and officers have worked together as a very successful team. It makes for a pleasant working relationship where we can achieve so much more.
I’m sad to report that during the year Robin Knowles, who was a long-standing councillor until his retirement at the last election, died in July 2024.
In January 2025 I was very pleased to present two of our longest serving council employees with their 25-year service awards. They were Evelyn, our Committee Officer and Nick our Head Groundsman. The Town Council have also recruited an extra grounds-person to meet the challenge of more open space to maintain.
In March 2025 our local police beat manager, PC Graham Gill retired to be replaced by PC Darryl Robinson. The format of Police Priority meeting will also change this year as they become Broadland wide and no longer Sprowston/Old Catton specific but they will encompass more agencies, which is positive. We wish Graham a good retirement and welcome both our new grounds-person and PC Darryl Robinson to the Sprowston community.
Out and about in Sprowston residents, councillors & council staff worked together to plant a screen of tree whips on Blue Boar Lane Park, which is the open area next to Lidl. More planting will be planned during the coming year. The footpath that runs along southern the edge of Millennium Wood has been upgraded with a new gravel type surfaced footpath. The council are looking to provide a similar surface to the rest of the perimeter in the future. A new cycle way has been provided through Harrison’s Wood by Persimmon Homes to connect the new footpath and cycleway along Salhouse Road with the footpaths along Blue Boar Lane. They all help to make the area easier to get around on foot or cycle.
At our play areas the council are replacing the old and broken wet-pour safety surfaces around play equipment with a more ecologically friendly grass & rubber matting alternative. This will also be cheaper and easier to maintain in future. Also, the broken fence around the small play in the middle of Wilks Farm Drive has been replaced with a new safety fence that should last a lot longer and is more attractive. While on the subject of fencing the probation community payback scheme has been utilised, with those doing community service completing a number of projects including the refurbishment of the fencing around the Pavilion on the Recreation Ground. Also, part of the historic flint and lime wall at St Mary and St Margarets Church yard has been rebuilt.
On the 6th June 2024 the Town Council, in conjugation with our Parish Church, hosted a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landing at St Mary and St Margaret Church which included the reading of the declaration and beacon lighting by the Chair of the Town Council which was also done at many parishes throughout the UK at the same time. The 80th Anniversary of VE day & VJ will be marked by a single celebration on the anniversary of VE Day, 8th May 2025, at the Methodist Church on the corner of Cozens Hardy Road.
In September the Chair of Broadland District Council, Cllr. Adrian Tipple, and I were invited to attend the 231 Squadron (Norwich) air cadets annual Sword Parade on the Diamond Field. This parade honours the best cadet with the presentation of a specially commissioned Wilkinson Sword. Then in March of this year my wife and I were honoured to attend the 231 Squadron (Norwich) annual dinner and awards ceremony at the Holiday Inn, Norwich Airport. Then later in March I was invited to attend the multi-services training evening at the Army Reserves Centre on Aylsham Road as the Town Council are bronze members of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.
The Diamond Centre continues to be very well used by a host of dance & exercise classes held there. The School Room is regularly used by the Dementia Cafe and the Cinema. Both monthly events are increasing in popularity. The School Room is also used as a church on Sundays. Several groups of badminton players and the Assist Trust, indoor football, meet regularly in the sports hall too. The lease for the successful and popular Chestnut Nursery in the annex at the Diamond Centre has also been renewed. The Diamond Centre is now a well-used part of the community.
Now we move on to the free Summer Fete 2024 which attracted approx. 2400 visitors last year to see 36 stalls and caterers, the arena acts, which included the foolhardy circus, and the local air cadet squadron. 3 bands provided the music in the music tent next to the bar. There were also lots of free activities such as the bouncy castles and paid for activities such as the fun fair. 29 council members and their family and friends helped with the organisation alongside council staff. As the people left, they all said what a wonderful day they’d had and asked us to ensure we do it again next year. This year’s free Summer Fete will be held on Saturday 19th July 2025. The bands have been booked and the main arena will once again host the Foolhardy Circus, plus the Ordgar Vikings who helped us open the refurbished Viking Centre.
This year all the Street Lights that the Town Council owns will be changed out to LED lights. There was a competitive tender held in February and the successful bidder was local company; Electrical Testing Limited based at Acle. They faced stiff competition from 3 companies including our incumbent contractor, Cozens Lighting, but Electrical Testing provided the best value for money and service for our Council Tax payers. We estimate that once the new equipment is installed, by the end of August, the Town Council should start saving approximately £60,000 to £70,000 per year on electricity costs plus gain better control of the lighting and automated fault reporting. I’d like to thank Cozens for their service for many years and welcome Electrical Testing as our new contractor.
The Town Council is still in negotiations to take over the area where the Skate Park will be built from Persimmon homes and also take control of Harrison’s Wood and Cottage Plantation from Broadland District Council. The hold up is that there are long standing issues with the state of the open spaces that the Town Council will take over which still require a lot of work to get to a useable standard.
On the 12th April this year, myself as Chair of Sprowston Town Council and Caroline Karimi-Ghovanlou, Vice Chair of Broadland District Council, were finally able to open the refurbished Viking Centre on Tills Road, which was bought by the Town Council in 2021. Work was delayed by Covid and we were finally able to start work in March 2024. It was due to open its doors to the public in November 2024 but delays caused by various issues, design changes, material shortages and periods of bad weather all conspired to interrupt the work. There is still some work to be done to the frontage but all the rooms are open for booking and the cafe (Longboats and Lattes) is open 6 days a week serving hot and cold refreshments. It was very busy at the opening ceremony which featured a demonstration by the Ordgar Vikings and music from the Strumsures Ukulele band. About 100 residents visited the new centre on the day and the feedback was all very positive. I have no doubt that it will become a popular community hub especially with the cafe providing a welcoming meeting place.
In May 2024 the Town Council started the process of examining our Neighbourhood Plan, which guides the development of Sprowston and gives the Town 25% of CIL paid by housing developers to spend on community infrastructure such as the Diamond Centre, Viking Centre and facilities on our open spaces. Sprowston was one of the very first councils to formally adopt their neighbourhood plan in May 2014 and it’s become clear that it now needs to be refreshed to meet current requirements. To that end the Town Council have formally embarked on the process working with our consultants, Rachel Leggett & Associates, who are guiding us through the process to be able to adopt the revised plan by May 2026. Household survey forms have been sent to all households (approx. 8500), a design code has been drafted and we have formed a character assessment of the various areas within Sprowston. We are also investigating the possibility of working in partnership with our smaller neighbour, Beeston St Andrew Parish Meeting, as the very large Beeston St Andrew (formerly Beyond Green with 3700 homes) spans both our parishes and Old Catton Parish Council. Our existing Neighbourhood Plan has secured the council at least an additional £1 million pounds to spend that we would not have had without one. So, it’s well worth the effort to get it right. Also, the main gain is that The Plan, once adopted, gives the Town Council more leverage with developers to make new housing fit into the exiting area and guide developers to provide the type and size of homes, open spaces and facilities that the Town needs.
Sprowston continued with its sponsorship of the Sprowston Youth Engagement Project with a £30,000 grant towards their running costs. This year they have opened their Urban Adventure Area on Church land in front of the allotments and had a very successful open day/family day during the summer. According to the last report I have received from them, they regularly engage with about 90 young people in Sprowston and a similar number in Old Catton. They provide activities 6 a week and actively train young people to become youth workers and ambassadors. They are also very successful getting extra grant aid from organisations such as the Big Lottery Communities grant and work closely with Broadland YAB and the Matthew Project.
The reformed Sprowston Heritage/History group has held several meetings in the Council Chamber, exhibited at the Fete, has co-exhibited at a Christmas presentation with our Neighbourhood Plan group, local councillors and our MP Alice MacDonald and at the opening of our Viking Centre. We have engaged with many local residents and formed a loose committee of about 7 residents and 5 councillors to move forward with documentation and presentation of the material. The next meeting is scheduled for the Viking Centre on the 25th April.
Cllr. Callam and I represent the Town Council on the Sprowston Senior Citizens Club which has approx. 100 members who all live within a short distance of our boundary. This year Sprowston W.I. arranged, in conjunction with Heart2Heart and the Daniel Baird foundation, to install a defibrillator and bleed kit which were paid for by the Broadland District Councillor Ward funding.
A second installation, at the library, is being secured by the W.I. which will be funded by the remaining funds from the Sprowston Supporting Our Community group which has now been wound up. This group was set up during Covid to assist those isolated and who had lost their support networks to get medication, shopping and assist with other tasks. At the height of the group there were over 50 volunteers performing over 150 tasks for up to 100 households per month.”
Cllr Bill Couzens
Chair of Sprowston Town Council
