Councillor volunteers have today completed the works to the new Carbrooke Road gates by installing updated notices at both vehicle entrances to the park.

The Carbrooke Road Gates project was supported by a 50% grant from Norfolk County Council’s Parish Partnership Scheme.

In order to ensure consistency, an identical notice has also been installed at the Manor Road entrance. This second sign was funded entirely by the Parish Council.

This completes the renovation project at the Carbrooke Road entrance, making the vehicle access secure and enhancing the pedestrian entrance.

​It updates our contact details and also provides both the postcode and ‘What Three Words’ location to improve the response time should we ever need to call the emergency services.

The new signage now correctly identifies the park under the name that was used in the dedication by the National Playing Fields Association when it became a ‘Field In Trust’ back in 2014. 

After around a decade of serving on the Parish Council, Councillor Keith Mace has decided it’s time to step back and take a well-earned rest.

Keith leaves with our best wishes and thanks for holding the fort during some difficult periods, including being of only three Councillors (the minimum number to keep the council viable) for a period and serving as Chair as recently as 2024.

This now leaves us with two current vacancies in our complement of seven councillors, and we’d welcome applications to the Clerk from interested villagers.

If you’d like to find out what this vital role in helping the village thrive entails – and we offer formal third-party training to get new councillors up to speed – please contact the Clerk.

We have now been advised by the Planning Inspectorate that they have received the case from the High Court and have scheduled the new appeal – with a different Planning Inspector – for 17 March 2026.

​The good news is that once again the appeal will be heard by a Hearing, and has not been downgraded to just ‘Written Representations’. Hopefully this works in our favour, as last time we were complete novices to the process while Eastern Attachments’ barrister was able to use his experience to try and shape proceedings; this time we know what to expect and how to best present our case. 

​Bearing in mind that the second appeal automatically picks up all previous evidence and representations from the first, all new representations should be made in writing as outlined in the letter on the right.

​Naturally, the parish council will ask to be formally represented at the hearing to put forward the overwhelming view of villagers that the appeal should be refused.​

Once a venue has been announced, we will update everyone.

After several months of waiting – and a few weather delays – the senior swings in the QEII Playing Field have got their new legs and are back in service once the rubber mulch and concrete cures on Saturday 13 December.

​This is part of the ongoing programme of equipment replacement to keep the park attractive and safe.

The rot in the lower parts of the legs was identified during the formal annual inspection in the summer, and for both safety and insurance reasons the swings were quarantined.. 

​The work has been fully funded from this year’s budget.

​The fence panels are now temporarily stored securely until they are returned to Norfolk Land Development next year.

At Tuesday’s December Parish Council Meeting, we agreed to adopt the draft budget for the next financial year that had been compiled and proposed by the Budget Working Group.

​We are very pleased to say that we have managed to make provision to maintain – and in many cases, improve – the services around the village related to the play area, grass cutting, bins and streetlights while reducing the amount of council tax we need by 1% from last year.

​Taking inflation into account, that is really a 5% reduction year-on-year, which we are very pleased with.​

​From April 2026, villagers should notice significant works around our renewal programme for all dog and litter bins, an upgrade to LED streetlights and continued investment in the playing field and its equipment. We have also increased the working hours for our Clerk to ensure that the bread and butter business of council business – accounting, meetings, minutes, legal compliance, etc. – can be properly carried out.

​We also await the outcome of the Local Government Reorganisation with interest, as it could impact our responsibilities and budget dramatically if duties currently placed on Breckland fall through the net during the transfer to whatever size and shape Unitary Authority takes over.

​As always, it remains our aspiration to make Griston a great place to live, work, play and visit.

Breckland Local Plan Consultation

This is the dry, boring bit of Parish Council business; poring over huge official documents trying to work out what they really mean to us and their possible effect on the village. But this is important stuff that everyone should be aware of now so they can comment and don’t realise too late that they’re affected and then have nowhere to complain.

The outcome of the recent call for sites by Breckland District Council identified five potential development locations (including one on the other side of the airfield) that were within the Griston Parish boundary. The Parish Council assessed them from the village’s point of view and placed them in a preferred order for submission to Breckland. On the face of it, it does look like those preferences were ignored.
 
Breckland District Council has now assessed all the nominated sites across their region, issued their draft Local Plan and moved to the Regulation 18 consultation, which is now open and runs until 15 December. It gives everyone the opportunity to comment and raise concerns over the proposals, particularly with regard to the planning locations. The draft plan can be found here

Regulation 18 Local Plan Consultation 2025 – Breckland Council

It is over 600 pages long,  but the map that refers to Griston can be found on Page 456.

Griston is one of 19 ‘secondary parishes’, which between them are scheduled to account for 5% of the Breckland area new housing development.
 
The total number of new dwellings anticipated in Griston (including any already permitted) between now and 2042 is 57. This again omits, in error, the site proposed as an addition to the Griston North area, as Breckland misread this in their initial parish allocation, and it looks like it would add another 70-ish houses to Griston North, adjacent to Carbrooke.
 
The Breckland calculation is simply for the Quantrill site (37 houses, already holding planning permission) and a further 20 on the Caston Road plot behind the Waggon & Horses.
 
In crude arithmetic terms, this averages out to three new houses per year, but we know that Norfolk Land Development is struggling to get interest in the terrace of new housing in Church Road and this is impacting their business decisions about starting the rest of the development. Breckland’s own projections are that this site will only see houses built between 2032/36; that lags behind the Caston Road site, where they project the whole twenty not being built until 2029-31. The Parish Council intends to apply whatever pressure it can to get the Quantrill site moving as soon as possible as we regard another ten years of non-progress on this abandoned industrial site as unacceptable.
 
Parish Councillors have queried in face-to-face discussions with Breckland’s Officers why only a single site from the four identified by us in the Call For Sites (and the one least preferred by us) made it to the draft Local Plan. Their response was that they had been oversubscribed with sites (even taking into account the increased Westminster target), and so had focussed only on the bigger sites in the draft plan.
 
We were assured that doesn’t mean that any other or smaller sites won’t be considered or looked at, just that for the Local Plan they’d taken the decision (largely driven by a short timeframe) to gain maximum numbers from the smallest number of sites.
 
The eagle-eyed among you will also spot that Griston is the only Breckland village identified as a ‘pocket of deprivation’, noting ‘these higher rates of multiple deprivation are based on levels of income, employment, education and crime’. We believe this classification is not a true reflection on the village, but may be a statistical result of HMP Wayland’s residents making us look like a high crime area. As this factor may also enable the parish council to attract additional grant funding, it could actually bring a positive effect. As they say ‘there are lies, damned lies and statistics.

We have also managed to get Griston recognised as a village with significant flood risk by the Lead Local Flood Authority, and all new developments in the village will have to take this into account.
 
Your Parish Council urges all parishioners to make their voices on the draft Local Plan Regulation 18 consultation heard by commenting using the link above and raise any concerns they might have: Comments must be made in writing and can be submitted as follows:
 

•   Online at: https://www.breckland.gov.uk/Regulation-18
•   By email to: LocalPlan@breckland.gov.uk
•   By post to: Planning Policy Team, Breckland District Council, Elizabeth House, Walpole Loke, Dereham NR19 1EE

 
There is also one remaining drop-in event where the Draft Plan can be seen and where Council Officers will be available to explain it and discuss matters. This is at Watton Library, on Wednesday 19 November between 12:00 – 15:00.
 
Finally, if you know friends or neighbours that might be interested and wish to comment – and are not active online – please make them aware.

We have now had our colourful, double-sided 10m long horizontal climbing wall installed in the park.

‘The Monkey Challenge’ was fully funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. It’s designed to be traversed horizontally rather than vertically, promoting agility and mobility without creating a high fall risk and removing the need for a safety surface.​

We’re looking forward to seeing competitions among our users to see who can go from one end to other fastest, who can go round both sides and round the end quickest, and who can do it using the least number of holds. Or one start each side and race to the end…

​​We’ve located it to provide a visual screen between the play area and the east-west pedestrian route along the north side of the park between the Carbrooke Road and Stan’s Walk gates.

Out of respect for our neighbours, we elected not to install the single-sided option with a football goal and targets on the reverse!

We have also now got a firm quote for the repair of the senior swing which have been fenced off and placed an order to upgrade the legs. We are hopeful that this should happen before Christmas.

With our 2026-27 budget planning underway, we are planning to invest to keep the park a vibrant, popular and attractive location for the residents and visitors to Griston.​​​​​​

At the Parish Council meeting last night, an update report was tabled by our Breckland District Councillors Phil Cowen and Sarah Suggitt which outlines a new twist in the future of the Coughtrey site. To avoid any confusion, we’ve pasted a scanned extract of their advice below.

So, effectively Breckland is saying the Appeal continues to revert to the Planning Inspectorate (although the case is still with the High Court as of yesterday and hasn’t been received by the Planning Inspectorate for a second appeal listing yet) and so is out of their control.

Breckland has been clear in our meetings that they wouldn’t defend the Inspector’s decision to dismiss the appeal if it went to a court hearing, nor is there any mention of them taking any enforcement action against the pungent morning paint odours or the ongoing noise nuisance, despite notices on both counts being served months ago.

​But the final message – that Eastern Attachments is in discussions to relocate elsewhere – is welcome. If it does mean the current unauthorised and disruptive operations leave the village for a more suitable site elsewhere, that’s a win for everyone. The village loses the nuisance and Eastern Attachments gets to operate from a site that better suits them.

​We stress that this is a single piece of advice in our District Councillor’s monthly report and could mean a multitude of things, but on the face of it, it could negate the need for a second appeal. We just don’t know what it It does mean for the future, as any new tenant/operator could raise issues and concerns of their own.

The immediate news sounds positive, but until we know timescales, operational details and the likelihood of the second appeal being heard, it’s just optimism. ‘The fullness of time’ could be decades!

Saturday 22 November 2025
Thompson Community Hall, IP24 1PY

Thousands of good condition fiction, non-fiction, reference and childrens’ books.​

In aid of Griston & Thompson Churches and Thompson Community Hall

Have you considered volunteering?

​We have several volunteering roles supporting the NHS which we urgently need to fill to meet the increased demand for support over the winter period. 

Volunteering is a fantastic way to support people, and research shows that volunteering can boost happiness and confidence. There are plenty of ways to get involved, and anyone, regardless of age, can make a difference.

Volunteering helps build connections, bringing peopletogether and fostering friendships. It’s a great way to meet new people, develop skills, and take pride in our communities.

Norfolk & Waveney boasts beautiful countryside, tight-knit villages and bustling market towns and our volunteers help keep this special part of the country strong, united, and supported.

By giving just a few hours a week or more, you can have a real impact on the lives of those around you. You’re not only improving life for others but for yourself. Whether it’s helping at your local hospital, supporting the vulnerable to stay in their own homes or return home after a hospital stay, or driving them to their non-urgent medical appointments, assisting Voluntary Norfolk behind the scenes or helping with community initiatives, every contribution counts.

Visit Voluntary Norfolk at www.voluntarynorfolk.org.uk to explore roles that, with your time and energy, will make a real difference.

You’ll be amazed by the positive impact you can have and how rewarding it feels to lend a hand!