As we reach the end of 2024, the King’s Lynn Civic Society committee are reflecting on some successful projects this year.
We managed to obtain funding support for our Every Street Name Tells a Story initiative. This delivered 20 new signs to show the original medieval street names in the town centre and refurbished 15 that we already had. To promote the project, we produced an accompanying guide book, a children’s book and commissioned a short play for local schools. It is a small but evocative way of reflecting local history and the traditionally made signs should last for many decades to come.
In September we coordinated another very successful Heritage Open Day with thousands of visitors to Lynn, many coming from outside the Borough. We have also assisted other events and initiatives including Hanse Day and resuscitating the Friends of the Walks group who, amongst other things, organised volunteers to open the Red Mount Chapel for two afternoons a week through the summer.
The winter lecture series has been well attended with standing room only for several events. We continue to monitor planning applications that may affect the town and have written over 30 letters with comments. We have also worked with our national body, Civic Voice, to lobby government on national planning matters.
As we do every year, we have spent many hours attending meetings with Borough officers and councillors and contributing to workshops and discussion groups. We uphold our mantra ‘only the best is good enough for King’s Lynn’.
Local Government has been facing significant ‘headwinds’ for many years – most recently caused by the pandemic, inflation and interest rates. This has certainly frustrated project planning and implementation. Another undoubted complication is the infantile way in which central government now seems to deliver funds to local authorities in orchestrated PR-led ‘programmes’, rather than as a dependable and predictable income stream.
But it is now five years since the £20 million ‘Town Deal’ money was first announced, the ‘Town Deal Board’ was established and a ‘Town Investment Plan’ was mooted.
In King’s Lynn we have precious little to show for the ensuing five years of work: The Guildhall project is floundering for cash; moving the library is now also well over budget (a project we always said wasn’t required, and would leave the unique Carnegie building with no purpose); riverfront improvement plans have been greatly reduced and the public realm enhancement budget seems to have been mainly spent on questionable interventions such as the empty ‘pop-up’ shops on Purfleet Street; plans for investment in ‘connectivity’ (cycling), seem to have gone quiet.
At the outset of the Town Deal process, KLCS noted publicly that £20m was not a huge amount and concentrating on one project (perhaps the Guildhall) and some other minor public realm enhancements (improved cycle routes?) might be the best way to deliver a long-term legacy for the town. Instead, we fear a large amount of money has now been blown on officer time, consultants and misdirected initiatives that will either not happen or not stand the test of time. Meanwhile parts of King’s Lynn look increasingly dilapidated and do not paint the town in the best light.
Whilst we welcome the creation of new fora to discuss opportunities and investment for King’s Lynn and the Borough, we are not impressed with the contribution the Town Deal Board has offered to date and question whether it has a future.
Looking forward, it seems inevitable that the Borough Council itself may be reconfigured as a larger authority, perhaps as early as 2027. If this is the case, it will be imperative that local residents retain a strong voice in decision-making that affects King’s Lynn. We feel a Town Council is long overdue to represent the town – as long as it can be established as a suitably autonomous and well-funded organisation.
In the meantime, the Civic Society will continue to lobby for projects and initiatives that we feel offer the best opportunities and outcomes for the Town and we hope that our members and other like-minded people will continue to support us in our work.
Here’s to a successful 2025!
KLCS Committee
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