New pool will be 'huge benefit' to town

A new swimming pool will be a "huge benefit" to a town that has been without one for over a decade, a meeting was told.

North Norfolk District Council's planning committee unanimously backed an £11m improvement plan to Fakenham's leisure centre - put forward by the council itself.

Conservative councillor Angie Fitch-Tillett said after figures showed Norfolk had the second highest number of accidental drownings last year, the pool was needed because it was "vital that people learn how to swim".

The new pool will have four, 25m (82ft) lanes, while a 3G all-weather artificial grass pitch will be added to site.

Its changing rooms will also be refurbished.

The authority's Liberal Democrat leader Tim Adams said construction work could start later this year and the new facilities could open in October 2026.

Referring to figures from the National Water Safety Forum, which showed nine people accidentally drowned in the county last year, Fitch-Tillett said pools were a "necessity for people learning to swim".

"Don't forget, we've got more water than anywhere else. Not just the sea, but the Broads and rivers," she added.

Some members of the town's brass band had opposed the plan, because it will see the demolition of the space they had used to practice in.

But the local Conservative councillor Christopher Cushing said the idea had been "received enthusiastically by the majority of residents in the town".

There has been a long-running campaign for a new swimming facility since the closure of Fakenham Academy's pool in 2014.

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