Views sought on North Lodge Park

Date published: 17th January 2025

An unused space in North Lodge Park in Cromer is open for consultation, to gauge the opinions of local residents and visitors about possible future uses of this site.

Throughout the years, the Council has received several pitches from both commercial and community groups for use of the site, but none of these proposals have come to fruition. 

After much further reflection, the District Council’s preferred use of the site is to revisit proposals to establish a small pay and display car park within the existing surfaced area. 

This would support the continued regeneration and rejuvenation of the park through generating additional footfall through the park and for businesses along the eastern end of Church Street, the East Promenade area, including the Rocket House.

The additional parking would meet a longstanding need for additional parking in the east end of the town, and generate additional income for the District Council, which would be re-invested in the regeneration of the park and maintaining tourism infrastructure within the town.

Aerial image of North Lodge Park, showing the unused area up for consultation

Leader of the Council & Councillor for the Cromer Town district ward Cllr. Tim Adams said:

"The former tennis courts/Kiddies Corner area of North Lodge Park has been vacant and unloved for more than 20 years. We know that in recent years, Cromer's appeal has continued to grow with renewed investment into the town by accommodation providers, food and drink operators, retail businesses and leisure offerings. This provides the context for the Council to again consider the options for this neglected area of North Lodge Park.

We feel there are three options for the future of the space - we have attempted to find community uses for the site previously, but these have fallen through in the past, and community groups are not of the scale or number they were several years ago. We have also received some commercial interest, but any proposals would require planning consent and investor confidence in taking any proposals forward, such that rental income might be limited. The third option would involve revisiting proposals for a small public pay and display car park. 

However, we are still prepared to hear from community groups who feel that they can help achieve rejuvenation of this area. Doing nothing with the site is not an option, and we wish to see this site back to use as soon as possible. As a Council, we continue to make significant investments into the assets that we own, in a way that provides investment to the local area." 

Hear more about the consultation:

 

The survey is open until Friday 7 February 2025

Visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/NLPSurvey2025 to take the survey