Multi-million pound leisure centre approved

Plans for a multi-million pound plan for a new community centre with facilities including a cafe, gym and soft play area have been approved.

South Norfolk district councillors were advised to back the redevelopment on the site of a former car dealership in Diss.

The council itself developed the plans for the centre, which will be built next to the town's mere and is part of an £8.1m project that will also include improvements to the bus station.

The proposal is being backed by the town council but there have been some objections, with the Diss Heritage Trust describing the building's design as ugly.

The plans have been on the cards since the district council bought the former John Grose car dealership to redevelop in 2024.

It said there had been "a long-standing request from the local community for improved leisure facilities in the town".

According to the authority, the centre will feature "a welcoming cafe, a soft play area, a spacious modern gym, and a vibrant plaza with stunning views over the mere".

It is investing £7.1m into the project and other town centre improvements, with a further £1m of funding coming from the Greater Norwich Growth Board.

More than 400 people took part in a consultation on the plans, and the town council, which backs the idea, said the centre's design was "a modern two-storey building appropriate for contemporary leisure use".

However, the Diss Heritage Trust warned it would "undeniably degrade the quality of the mere", the six-acre (2.4 hectares) lake in the town centre.

Describing it as a "banal and ugly building", the trust suggested it should be on Park Road instead.

South Norfolk Council's planning committee approved the plans unanimously at a meeting today, subject to concerns over access and details of flood risks being resolved.

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