The NNDC has finally seen sense and abandoned plans for a car park on the site of the tennis courts in North Lodge Park.

I have received an email from Barry Meadows of the Friends of North Lodge Park.

“The end of the beginning…

At this morning’s NNDC Development Committee (Thursday 15th December) the planning application for developing part of North Lodge Park to provide a car park and new toilet facilities was refused, by 8 votes to 2, because it contravened several of the council’s core policies.

The decision was rather a surprise for us, but not unwelcome, and we must thank those councillors who spoke out against the proposals, and proved that a strong, evidence based argument is worth putting effort into.

We are pleased that councillors listened to arguments from the community, and think that a small celebration is allowed.  It’s only a small celebration, because if the council had engaged with the community before submitting the application we could today be celebrating a bright future for the Park.

So the hard work starts now, to build bridges to avoid this new unexpected twist causing a lull in the future developments for the Park.  We believe that if the park is invested in people will be attracted to it with the positive knock-on effect to the economy of the Town

Our ideas for a community trust are well advanced, and we hope to discuss these with NNDC early in the new year.  If we can, and we believe we can, create a working proposal we’ll be able to have a proper celebration.  We’ll then need your help to make the plans happen.  The Park will not run itself and we’ll need many more of you to step up to the tasks.”

The EDP’s report of the council meeting is available here.