Apologies for a month of silence regarding the Park. Since the last update following the painful meeting at the beginning of June there has been little to report (unless you include lack of planting in the Park!), the Friends have not been involved as any activity has been in closed council sessions away from public view. Until now.

This week has seen two key decisions made.

• North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) formally confirmed at their cabinet meeting on Monday 6th July the deadlines given to Cromer Town Council would be the last, and that if the transfer is not complete by 21st July the Park will not be transferred.
• We have heard informally from two councillors that at the full council meeting (also on Monday 6th July) Cromer Town Council (CTC) confirmed they will proceed and have given NNDC their assurance that they will complete by the deadline.

This means that, unless any new issues should arise in the next 10 days, the Park will be under new ownership before the end of the month. We don’t know what this means, what the plans are, or how (if?) the Friends will be included in any planning or activities.

We do know that, whilst anything will be better than the neglected state the Park is in, CTC currently only have a budget to maintain the Park at a very basic level rather than the level it should be.

We are waiting a response to the serious questions we raised in early June; on Monday night CTC committed to providing a formal response – we hope this response will provide the community with the confidence we need for the future of the Park under the stewardship of Cromer Town Council.

You will be aware that the relationship between the Friends and CTC has been strained, and there have been some big differences of opinion. If the transfer does complete, for the sake of the Park, we must put that behind us and look forward. There will be challenges ahead – not least financial – but with the passion you have shown for the Park, if CTC want to work positively with the community we will find a way to make it work.

Come on Cromer Town Council – the ball’s in your Park.
Barry Meadows
Secretary, Friends of North Lodge Park.

Strict deadline looming for Cromer Town Council to take over North Lodge Park

Sophie Wyllie, edp

The clock is ticking for Cromer Town Council to take ownership of a much-loved but stagnating clifftop park following 15 months of “frustrating” legal delays.

North Norfolk District Council, which owns North Lodge Park, has laid down the law dictating the legal transfer of ownership of the public space to the town council must be complete by July 21 this year.

As part of the process, the district council will give the town council £150,000 for the park. If the July deadline is not met by the town council, the district council said it would look at other options for future park maintenance.

The town council asked to take control of the area from the district council and, following the go-ahead from district council cabinet members in February last year, it was expected the legal transfer of ownership would be completed by spring that year.

But delays over legal issues, including covenants, have hampered the process.

Julie Chance, town council clerk, said: “Unfortunately it has taken a long time. The delays have been on both sides. We are just as frustrated as the district council.”

But district council leader Tom FitzPatrick said: “We were ready to transfer the park by April 30 last year. The delay doesn’t lie with us.”

The town council met this Tuesday’s strict deadline set by the district council to commit themselves to taking over the park ownership on a permanent freehold basis and to sign the legal contract by July 21.

Mr FitzPatrick said the district council was now digging into its reserves to maintain the park in an “unplanned way” after cancelling its Kier contract in anticipation of an ownership transfer last April.

“We are trying to make it look nice and have spent money on it. We didn’t put a new tenant in the cafe because we were hoping to transfer it to the town council. There is a stagnation in the park as a result and that is not of our choosing.

“We have to act as quickly as possible. We are now 15 months down the line and need a degree of certainty to what is happening,” he added.

A district council report said a considerable amount of officer time had been spent on the park transfer, diverting resources from other projects.

“It does not represent value for money for taxpayers to continue with this process indefinitely,” it added.

Mrs Chance said the council was fully committed to owning the park but needed to review legal issues thoroughly so there were no “nasty surprises”.

Council chairman Tim Adams said they would “pull out all the stops” to complete the transfer.

He added: “We as a council have been fighting for North Lodge Park for more than 10 years. There is a lot of public feeling for it and we all want to see it well-maintained. It is important we get this right.”

Tony Knight, chairman of Friends of North Lodge Park, separate from the town council, said: “There is a great frustration and disappointment over the park. It is not a good picture for Cromer. There is a great passion for the park hence the disappointment.”

He said the group, formed in March this year, was happy to work with any owner of the park.

Mr Adams said after a transfer immediate grass improvements needed to be made and bedding plants needed to be reintroduced.

He also hoped to attract more community events in the park, clean up the toilets and re-open the cafe, which has been closed for more than a year, as soon as possible.

But the council needed to decide on longer-term improvements as well as future uses for the park, which could take between five and 10 years to introduce.

from the edp 2 July 2015

Where next for the Park?

Cromer Town Council extraordinary Park meeting report

Some key decisions were made by Cromer Town Council on Wednesday night. We are issuing this brief interim newsletter to make you aware of what is, and isn’t, happening to your Park.

Last autumn, over 6 months ago, Cromer Town Council facilitated the creation of a community group to work with them on North Lodge Park.  We all thought that, at last, there were to be some positive actions in the saga of the Park.

Unfortunately our hopes for progress this year were wrong, and they were completely dashed on Wednesday night.

At an extraordinary meeting of Cromer Town Council the council discussed how to proceed with the project to transfer ownership of the Park from the district.

The Friends used the opportunity to speak from the public gallery, to ask members of the council some serious questions about the project, the same questions we have been asking in the North Lodge Park committee meetings for some time.  The debate in the meeting failed to answer our questions.  (We are getting our notes together and will publish our questions soon so you know the details of what we asked.).

Our concerns have centred around the extent to which we feel the Council is prepared for the transfer; we have been told repeatedly that the council couldn’t spend much time and effort on preparation as the transfer might not go ahead.

Our view has always been that without proper preparation it would be impossible to be ready when the transfer occurs. Proper preparation is also essential to ensure that all implications are fully identified and considered before the decision is taken.

These very different views have caused tension and on Wednesday night we were accused of being confrontational and aggressive. One member questioned how much we had been Friends to the Council, missing the point that we are Friends of the Park and everything we have said and done has been in its best interest. We have been firm, maybe too firm at times, in the meetings but only as a result of trying to get satisfactory answers to our questions and also in trying to establish a more equal working relationship.

The council proceeded to vote on two points.

1. Cromer Town Council voted to dissolve their North Lodge Park committee, their mechanism for working with the community regarding the Park.  Their rationale was that the committee was causing a distraction from the transfer project, and it is not needed until transfer has been completed..
2. Cromer Town Council voted to continue with the transfer project, without putting any time limits on completion, committing more public money on legal costs with no proposal on how to draw the issues to a close.

Apparently the District Council (NNDC) gave Cromer Town Council a deadline of the end of May to resolve any outstanding issues – we don’t know what the implications of not meeting this deadline are.

We are very disappointed with the conclusion, and angry with how the decision was reached without any consideration of the community view, and no debate around the important issues we raised.

We leave you to draw your own conclusions while we re-group to determine how the Friends of North Lodge Park continue.  Our focus has always been to put the Park first, and we will continue to do that in these very difficult circumstances.

We hope to speak to NNDC in the coming days to understand their position on working with the Friends

Many thanks to you all for your support, and apologies for not being able to personally reply to your emails offering support and practical help – we really appreciate the positive way you have responded to us – it is your support that gives us the energy to continue.

Barry Meadows
(very disgruntled) Secretary, Friends of North Lodge Park

We seem to be getting the message across:  that there is an active community in Cromer eager to help in North Lodge Park (when/if the councils manage to complete the transfer.)

To this end, the EDP have asked if we would arrange a photo opportunity for them, to show a (large) group of frustrated potential volunteers, with garden tools in hand in North Lodge Park.

Tomorrow. Wednesday 27th May at 12.30pm.

We know it is very short notice, but if you could dust down some garden tools of various shapes and sizes, and come to be ready for a photograph by 12.30 tomorrow afternoon in North Lodge Park (meet by the boating lake), this could be the start of something.   All welcome,  Spades, Forks, Trowels, etc at the ready.

Warning: This event may contain flash photography.

Look forward to seeing you all.

Barry Meadows
Future film producer and Secretary of North Lodge Park

To help us recruit film stars for the day please share this message with your friends:

North Lodge Park

 The community view

As you know, our report, based on analysis of almost 750 responses to the survey was presented to Cromer Town Council on 30th April, and at an open meeting on 14th May. We have been heartened by the positive response from you, at the meeting and elsewhere: there is definitely a passion for the Park in the community.

Thank-you to those who stayed behind at the open meeting to join the working groups to generate ideas and to commit your time to help with improvements to the Park. Anyone who couldn’t make the meeting who would like to join one of the working groups please let us know, email us on friends@northlodgepark.org.uk and we’ll let you know what is planned.

Tiptoe through the tulips

You will not be surprised that creating an equal working relationship with Cromer Town Council is not proving to be easy – there are two different cultures involved and the Council procedures seem designed to hinder progress. We still have major concerns, for example, about the budget and how prepared the Council is for owning the Park, but we are doing what we can to make it work.

At the open meeting, and elsewhere, we have emphasised that there remain challenges in moving forward: more than 15 months after it was agreed to transfer the Park to Cromer Town Council there still seems to be a stalemate in the process. We have dug hard at both NNDC and Cromer Town Council to try to get to the bottom of the impasse, and are now assured that if the transfer isn’t agreed by the end of June it will be stopped. At last we might get some clarity on the situation soon if not progress!

The next planned joint Cromer Town Council and Friends of North Lodge Park committee meeting is on 4th June. This will be a key meeting to resolve many of the constraints that are obstructing the establishment of a partnership with the Town Council. For the sake of the Park, we can not keep tiptoeing through the tulips.

The opportunities

The working groups at the open meeting brought forward many ideas that we are bringing together into a working plan alongside the recommendations and priorities that came from the survey analysis. We have developed a specification for a cafe operator and have offered to manage the process and work with interested parties over the coming month so that when the smoke clears in June we will have a preferred operator ready to recommend to the Park owners to take on the cafe at the earliest opportunity this summer.

Unfortunately there is little we can do without support from the Park owners – on your behalf we will continue to encourage the two councils to bring this sorry saga to an end – whether there will be any film rights to the story remains to be seen!

Remaining positive

Nelson Mandela said “It always seems impossible until its done”; we remain positive that with support from the Park owners, either the district or town, your enthusiasm will help us make North Lodge Park a real asset for Cromer. Walt Disney was right when he said “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible”.

Let’s hope the fun from working with Walt Disney proves Nelson Mandela right.

We completed the analysis of what you said in the survey – all 747 responses – and presented the findings with 10 recommendations to Cromer Town Council on 30th April – you can read the full report on the website northlodgepark.org.uk.

There will be an open meeting on THURSDAY 14th MAY at 7pm in Cromer Community Hall where we will present the report to you, and we can discuss the recommendations and develop some actions.

Please come to listen and help.

In summary the 10 recommendations are:

1. the Park should be managed as a TRUST for the community
2. a set of PRINCIPLES should be used to guide decisions made about the Park
3. the BUDGET for the Park must be sufficient to stop further deterioration
4. the CAFE should be opened as soon as possible
5. the potential of the CONCRETE AREA should be explored as soon as possible
6. all developments should be considered within a 5 and 10 year PLAN
7. specific areas of the Park should be TIDIED and REPLANTED
8. ACTIVITIES should commence as soon as possible
9. PUTTING should be reintroduced
10. movement and parking of CARS should be controlled

Full details of these recommendations are in the report.

While we wait for the transfer to actually happen, and for Cromer Town Council to respond to our recommendations, life in the Park is at full speed and things need to be done. There are a number of things already going on and more are planned:

• we prepared a specification for the cafe which was agreed at last week’s meeting with the Town Council, and if all goes well the cafe should be open this summer
• we prepared a specification for the maintenance of the Park which will go to tender this summer and if all goes well should start in the autumn
• we have agreement to put up speed limit signs (5mph) and to develop proposals for improving management of vehicles in the Park
• we have agreement to look into the feasibility of managing the Park under some form of community trust

There are lots of things on our ‘to do’ list – don’t hold back if you’d like to help with any of these

• the ugly concrete area and run-down bandstand need to be improved – its the focal point on the main entrance – do you have some positive ideas and some energy to develop this area with us if the Council think it is possible for the Friends to make use of this building?
• there are many areas in the Park which have been neglected for too long – do you have expertise and time to help us plan and then develop these in the short term? Can the Friends add value within the maintenance tender by managing specific areas of the Park?
• to bring some life into the Park this summer we’d like events to be run – if you have ideas please let us know – bring them to the meeting on 14th May
• putting is high on your list of activities to restart in the Park – do you want to help with this – let us know; we could start straight away by organising a competition weekend – would you interested in organising this?
• there needs to be a set of ‘rules and regulations’ to help manage the Park – based on the proposed principles we need to develop some working guidelines; we don’t want rules to be overly restrictive – the Park is for all the community – we want rules to encourage community engagement and consideration for others – what do you think? We need your help to develop some working guidelines.

We expect the meeting on 14th May to focus on the proposed actions and ideas – guided by the proposed principles and priorities highlighted in the report. Please come along with your ideas and energy to work with us to develop some short term plans for North Lodge Park.
Look forward to seeing you soon

Barry Meadows
Secretary, Friends of North Lodge Park