Swaffham Newsletter

In Touch With Your Town
Saplings
On Wednesday 13th March and
Saturday 16 March Heartwood CE VC
Primary School and the local Scouts,
Cubs, Beavers, and Police Cadets all
supported Swaffham Town Council to plant saplings
at Orford Road play area. Swaffham Town Council
would like to thank the staff team at Swaffham Town
Council, the local youth community, Cllr Beech and
Cllr Braithwaite for their support with this. There will
be 315 saplings planted in the area this year.
Brightening up the Buttercross
In an attempt to brighten up Swaffham, Swaffham
Town Council have been working with community
groups to create a fantastic display of floral crafts
spiralling the pillars of the historic monument, the
Buttercross. Swaffham Town Council would like to
thank the community of crafters in Swaffham for their
dedication to this cause. The next mission is to create
poppies for the commemoration of 80 years since the
D-Day landings on Thursday 6th June.
If you would like to be involved Swaffham Town
Council have resources at the Town Hall. Please
contact comms@swaffhamtowncouncil.gov.uk.
Howard Carter Memorial
Head to the memorial site in the town centre to see
the new memorial space for Howard Carter. Swaffham
Town Council would like to thank Mike Marfleet for
his donation of the plaque that commemorates the
achievements of Howard Carter. It is a great addition
to the town.
Save the date!
• Festival of Flowers – Late Spring/early Summer
• Seasonal Decorations - Late March
• LIVE in Swaffham – Saturday 4th May
• Sheep Fayre – Saturday 11th May
• D-Day 80 – Thursday 6th June
• Youth Group Day – Saturday 15th June
• Classic Car Show – Sunday 25th August
Date of Council meetings
• Full Council - Weds10th April 6.30pm
• Finance Monday - 22nd April 1pm
• Planning & Built Environment - Tues 30th April 11am
If you have any queries about any of the items
mentioned or would like to hear more updates on
projects etc, please contact Swaffham Town Council
on telephone 01760 722922 or pop in and see us.
50th Anniversary of Swaffham
Town Council
1st April 2024 marks the 50th Anniversary of Swaffham
Town Council, which came into being on 1st April
1974. This followed the Local Government Act 1972,
which lead to hundreds of small District Councils
being amalgamated into large District Councils across
England and came into force in April 1974. This was
supposed to be in pursuit of efficiency.
Before April 1974, Swaffham town within the civil
parish of Swaffham had been governed by the
Swaffham Urban District Council (the UDC). At the
same time the civil parishes around Swaffham came
under the Swaffham Rural District Council (the RDC).
Both councils had their offices in Swaffham; the UDC
in the Town Hall, and the RDC in 30/32 Market Place,
the building next to Fitzroy House.
In April 1974, Breckland District Council came into
being, taking over from not only Swaffham UDC and
RDC, but also the Borough of Thetford, the UDCs of
Dereham and Attleborough, and several rural district
councils around those towns.
The Swaffham UDC did all the things that are now
done by Breckland Council, including important
roles such as determining planning applications, and
building, maintaining and letting council housing, as
well as for public health; the UDC was responsible for
all the sewers around the town, and for the sewage
treatment works along Watton Road.
The UDC also had some delegation from Norfolk
County Council to undertake highway maintenance
on minor roads. It also did all the things that the
present Town Council does, including looking after
public open spaces and the cemetery.
Swaffham UDC built practically all of the council
houses we have in Swaffham during a period from the
1920s until the 1970s, the last ones being the flats
in Queen Street, which were just completed in 1974.
Minutes of the Town Council from 1974 indicate that
the members of the Town Council were quite unhappy
with the new Breckland Council policy on housing;
Breckland Council did not build any more council
houses in Swaffham in any significant numbers.
The leader of the UDC was called the Chairman of
the Council; Swaffham had never had a Mayor until
the Town Council came into being. One of the Town
Council’s first acts was to resolve that the leader of
the Council would be styled as ‘the Mayor’ and the
deputy leader as ‘the Deputy Mayor’! In fact, the
Town Council is no more than a Parish Council but
like similar towns was permitted under the Local
Government Act 1972 to call itself a Town Council and
to have a Mayor.
An early tussle between the new Town Council and
Breckland Council was the status of the Saturday
Market. At first Breckland Council claimed control
of it, stating it was a street market under the Sale of
Food and Drugs Act 1876. However, thanks to Town
Councillor RE Drake, who undertook considerable
research, the Town Council proved that the Saturday
Market was actually a Charter Market from around
AD 1215, granted to the local parish, that being
Swaffham.
The following 50 years from the establishment of the
Town Council have seen many changes, but some
things do not change. One of the last councillors on
the old UDC, and then on the new Town Council, was
a certain youthful Councillor Graham Eves! Graham
has not, of course, been a councillor for all those 50
years, but has returned to the Town Council recently
with the wisdom of those years to bring to the
council. Graham recollects that on the UDC he had
some responsibility for allocating council houses, and
says it was very satisfying to be providing people with
their chance of decent housing.
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