Critics hope 1929 law will stall car park plans

Campaigners hope that a third attempt to turn derelict tennis courts into a car park could be stalled after it emerged the land might be protected by an old law.

North Norfolk District Council wants to build a car park at North Lodge Park in Cromer.

But campaigners are fighting the plans to stop the loss of public space and believe there are legal protections over the site granted nearly 100 years ago by the Ministry of Health.

The council is hoping to remove any restrictions on the land being used for recreation, which were agreed in 1929.

A consultation was recently held to gather views on whether the use of the plot of land should be changed.

It followed the Liberal Democrat authority's cabinet agreeing to pursue building a 44-space car park on the site.

It has promised to ringfence any income from the car park, putting the cash towards making improvements at North Lodge Park.

Attempts to build a car park there have been rumbling on for nearly two decades.

A bid in 2007 for a larger 100-space facility was met with strong opposition due to the loss of park space.

Another attempt in 2016 for a smaller 44-space car park on the tennis courts also failed.

Plans were again lodged last December, which have been met with several letters of objection and support.

Cromer Town Council has agreed to move out of its offices at North Lodge to Station House following renovation.

The tennis courts fell out of use decades ago and the plot has been fenced off for some time.

Campaigners believe the land should be brought back into recreational use.

Jerry Foulkes, 64, who is leading the fight to save it, said: "The land has been left to decay since it was fenced off in the late 1990s.

"It's not that I hate car parks. I think parks are really important and building a car park in a park isn't a good use of recreation land, which is scarce.

"Nobody's ever going to build a new park and so I think we have to protect the ones we have."

The opposition group, Love North Lodge Park, argues that a 2020 council assessment of Cromer's green spaces showed the town had a deficit in areas available for recreation.

Following the consultation, the council will make a decision on 30 November.

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