Our Story
Abbey residents protesting at Breckland District Council headquarters
Back in 2019 Flagship Housing Association started a consultation process with residents on the Abbey Estate. They said that they wanted to improve the Estate and add some more housing to help with Breckland’s housing waiting list. The early meetings, and booklets, asked about building parks, community walkways and orchards. The final plan showed that they wanted to:
Demolish 540 homes
Rebuild these homes and add a nearly 500 more to the estate
Remove residents private garages and front gardens
Introduce communal parking and possibly parking permits
Remove some of the greens on the estate
We also found out Breckland District Council were going to sell Flagship the greens for a fee of £1.00. Both Breckland and Norfolk County Council had memorandums of understanding with Flagship.
Many of the residents became increasingly frustrated with Flagship’s vague answers to questions as the consultation continued. Flagship would tell residents that nothing could be discussed until outline planning had been submitted.
They say they intend to submit detailed planning on a street by street basis and deal with residents on an individual basis given their own personal circumstances. This means that those who don’t understand the issues, or their rights, might allow Flagship to make them a totally unsuitable offer. Also the needs of private landlords who don’t live on the estate will be very different to say, a young family in social housing for example.
It is clear that Flagship thought they would be able to alter the estate with the minimum of fuss from the residents. Some older residents have suffered mental health issues as a result of the uncertainty. After the local elections in May 2023 the Estate’s Councillors met with concerned residents and formed the Abbey Action Group. Since we formed we have:
Spoken to the Leader of Breckland Council Sam Chapman-Allen who claimed he was not aware of the extent of Flagship’s plans and thought their promise that no one would lose out financially would not hold up to scrutiny. He still is going to sell them the land.
Learned about the planning process from Breckland’s Planning Officers so we are clear about what we can and can’t object to.
Had two residents speak at a Breckland Council Planning meeting.
Been asked to help Flagship with community lighting at our Neighbourhood Centre
Written to Flagship many times
Written to Liz Truss, the MP for South West Norfolk and met with her along with other residents
Met with the Flagship steering group member Jane James from Norfolk County Council (they have had just one meeting in five years)
Secured limited funding from the Town Council as a community group
Supported a new petition to stop the regeneration
Flagship’s proposals are bad news for the Abbey Estate and bad news for Thetford. 500 extra households will put a strain on Thetford’s already stretched services such as doctors, dentists and schools. Flagship own large parts of other estates in Thetford and if they get away with their proposals on the Abbey Estate they will try to do the same elsewhere.