Trimingham looks to the future for a village hall

Villagers at Trimingham are invited to a meeting on 24 July to consider plans to replace the Pilgrim Shelter with a new village hall, in the face of coastal erosion.

The project to find a new village hall for Trimingham is part of the North Norfolk Coastal Pathfinder, a £3 million programme of initiatives designed to test new approaches to coastal management in areas which are unlikely to qualify for coastal defences. The Pathfinder projects may point the way for future government policy on coastal management.

The Pilgrim Shelter is too small to meet the community’s needs, but extensions and improvements there would be unwise as it is estimated that it will be lost to erosion in the next 20 to 30 years.

More than 70 people attended an open day at the Pilgrim Shelter in March, when there was consensus that a site to the west of Staden Park would be most appropriate for a new facility. Planning advice also favours that site, which falls outside the 100-year erosion zone.

Now NNDC is exploring design ideas, additional funding sources and land ownership and access issues, so a plan can be drawn up for a hall that is flexible in its use, affordable and acceptable in planning terms.

Trimingham Parish Council is backing the project and is asking the wider community to lend support. Local people can help in a variety of ways, such as:
• offering skills, time or labour in the development of the site
• donating materials, that can be used in construction or landscaping
• fundraising
• contributing ideas.

Villagers are invited to an open meeting at 10am on 24 July, at the Pilgrim Shelter, where they can hear the latest developments, and put forward their own ideas, expectations and offers of help for the new hall.

Once a suitable draft design and layout has been prepared by the partners in the project (NNDC and Trimingham Parish Council) a planning application will be submitted for the agreed scheme and applications will also be made for grants.

Councillor Clive Stockton, NNDC Cabinet Member for Coastal Strategy, said: “NNDC was one of the most active partners in persuading the Government to initiate the Coastal Pathfinder nationally, and the quality of our proposed projects was reflected in our obtaining £3 million for Pathfinder projects in North Norfolk – more than a quarter of the total national pot. By successfully implementing and documenting our projects, we will be making a major contribution to the future of coastal management. Indeed, one of our next major areas of lobbying the Government will be for the successful Pathfinder projects to form the basis of future Government coastal management policies.

“A community project like the Pilgrim Shelter has therefore an importance both locally, and on the national stage.”

• For more information about the Trimingham Pathfinder project, see www.northnorfolk.org/pathfinder/trimingham.asp

ENDS