111-464: Lowestoft ( / ˈ l oʊ ( ɪ ) s t ɒ f t , ˈ l oʊ s t ə f / LOH -(ih)-stoft, LOH -stəf ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk , England. As the most easterly UK settlement , it is 38 miles (61 km) north-east of Ipswich and 22 miles (35 km) south-east of Norwich , and the main town in its district. Its development grew with
222-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
333-457: A corn cross on the ground floor with the meeting chamber and chapel above. This in turn was replaced by the present building, designed by architect J. L. Clemence in 1857. The building houses the town clock and the curfew bell, which dates from 1644 and is rung each evening at 8 p. m. The building is a Grade II listed building . Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It
444-523: A storm surge caused severe flooding of Lowestoft and its suburbs. Lowestoft is among the UK's driest areas: annual rainfall averages under 600 mm distributed fairly evenly through the year. Mean daily summer temperatures peak at 21 °C in August, when the town averages over 200 hours of sunshine, while in winter minima average 2 °C. Marked snowfall is rare. Sea fog and cool onshore breezes can affect
555-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
666-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
777-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
888-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
999-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
1110-440: A civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under
1221-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
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#17327658855961332-586: A common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by
1443-552: A loss of 60 jobs, having once employed 800. The timber company Jeld-Wen closed its factory in the town in 2010. From the mid-1960s to the late 1990s, the oil and gas industry provided significant employment in the area. For many years the Shell Southern Operations base on the north shore of Lowestoft Harbour was town's largest employer. A decision to close the Shell base was finally made in 2003. Oil and gas
1554-421: A loss of £40,000 and raised concerns over its sustainability, whereupon further financial difficulties coupled with bad weather and low visitor numbers made the 2012 airshow the last before it was discontinued. Near the town centre is Lowestoft Maritime Museum , open from late April to late October, which has exhibits of maritime artefacts, an extensive collection of ship models and medals, marine art, fishing and
1665-562: A naval base. It is sometimes placed among the UK's most heavily bombed towns per head of population. The Royal Naval Patrol Service was mobilised in August 1939, mainly by trawlermen and fishermen of the Royal Naval Reserve . Its depot, HMS Europa , was also known locally as the Sparrow's Nest . Lowestoft is the major settlement in the East Suffolk district. In 1885 Lowestoft became a municipal borough which became part of
1776-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
1887-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
1998-728: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Armed trawler Ethel %26 Millie The Armed trawler Ethel & Millie
2109-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
2220-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
2331-518: A profound impact on the town's industrial development – its fishing fleets could sell to markets further inland, and other industries such as engineering gained from increased trade with the continent. Peto's railway enabled Lowestoft to become a flourishing seaside holiday resort ; much of Peto's seaside resort in south Lowestoft still exists, including the Grade II listed Kirkley Cliff and Wellington Esplanade terraces. During World War I , Lowestoft
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#17327658855962442-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
2553-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
2664-598: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
2775-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
2886-672: A specialist in self-catering UK holidays, is also a large employment provider. The town centre is the main shopping area in Waveney district. The retail chain Marks & Spencer has a store. Chadds independent department store was founded in 1907, and after nearly 100 years trading in the High Street, was taken over in 2004 by the Great Yarmouth -based Palmers group. Specialist shopping areas, branded as The Historic High Street and
2997-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
3108-850: Is a Grade I listed building . In the town centre is Our Lady Star of the Sea Church , a Grade II listed building in the Arts and Crafts style and the most easterly Catholic church in the British Isles. Lowestoft's town-centre library contains a local-history section and a branch of the Suffolk Record Office. Lowestoft Hospital closed in 2016. Services are now provided by the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston. The main burial grounds for
3219-661: Is a large compass rose, the Euroscope , set in the ground to give the direction and distance to various cities in Europe . Belle Vue Park (Sparrows Nest) is the site of the Royal Naval Patrol Service memorial. The central depot for the service was in Lowestoft when it was mobilised in August 1939, on a site known as Sparrow's Nest, adjacent to the memorial. The memorial has the names of the 2,385 members of
3330-439: Is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through
3441-565: Is also located there. The Mincarlo , the last surviving sidewinder trawler of the Lowestoft fishing fleet , can be visited at Lowestoft Harbour. The East Anglia Transport Museum holds a collection of buses, trams and trolleybuses in Carlton Colville . Lowestoft retains several narrow lanes with steps running steeply seawards, known locally as "scores". They were used by fishermen and smugglers and now feature in an annual charity race. The borough church, dedicated to St Margaret ,
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3552-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
3663-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
3774-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
3885-434: Is still a major industry. The town has made efforts to develop as a centre for renewable energy in the east of England. The non-profit Orbis Energy centre has been set up to draw business in the green-energy sector and features solar thermal heating . In April 2009, Associated British Ports announced that the harbour is to become the operations centre for the 500 MW Greater Gabbard wind farm , which when completed will be
3996-562: Is still located in Lowestoft. Other major traditional employers included Eastern Coach Works and engineering and shipbuilding companies clustered around the harbour . These included the Brooke Marine and Richards shipbuilding companies, which together employed over a thousand men but went out of business in the 1990s, and the Norwich-based engineering company Boulton and Paul . Some shipbuilding and repair still goes on at
4107-628: Is the county authority. A civil parish of Lowestoft was created on 1 April 2017, governed by Lowestoft Town Council, which elects a town mayor annually. The town is part of the Lowestoft parliamentary constituency . Before 1 April 2019, Lowestoft, as part of Waveney District Council, was divided into ten electoral wards, with Carlton Colville treated as a separate electoral area. Harbour, Kirkley, Normanston , Pakefield , St Margarets and Whitton wards elected three councillors each, and Carlton, Gunton and Corton, Oulton and Oulton Broad wards two. Of
4218-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
4329-761: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were
4440-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
4551-411: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as
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4662-523: The Marina , the Players (Lowestoft) and The Seagull . The 800-seat Marina, operated as a charitable trust, was restored and refurbished in 2012 and its cinema upgraded to digital in 2013. A small four-screen cinema, the independently owned East Coast Cinema, underwent modest refurbishment in late 2011 to upgrade facilities and allow 3D films to be shown. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has played regularly at
4773-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
4884-692: The communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007
4995-605: The fishing industry and as a seaside resort with wide sandy beaches. As fishing declined, oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea in the 1960s took over. In 2021 the built-up area had a population of 71,327 and the parish had a population of 47,879. Some of the earliest signs of settlement in Britain have been found here. Flint tools discovered in the Pakefield cliffs of south Lowestoft in 2005 allow human habitation of
5106-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
5217-410: The 1960s and although 100 boats remained by the 1980s, there are now only a few small boats operating out of Lowestoft, with no large trawlers. By 2011 just three traders remained at the town's fish market, which is under threat of closure due to redevelopment of the port . The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), a large fisheries research centre that is a part of Defra ,
5328-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
5439-424: The 2001 census there were 27,777 households, giving an average household size of 2.40. In total 8,430 (30 per cent) were classified as one-person households, while 26 per cent included children aged 15 or under. The proportion of households without a private car was 29 per cent, whilst 22 per cent had two or more. In housing tenure, 72 per cent of homes were owner-occupied. Originally based on fishing and engineering,
5550-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
5661-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
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#17327658855965772-483: The 48 council seats in the district, 26 represented wards within Lowestoft and three were in Carlton Colville. In 2010 the council changed to a system of all seats being elected every four years. On 1 April 2019, governance arrangements for Lowestoft changed with the merger of Waveney and Suffolk Coastal District Councils to form a new district council of East Suffolk . Elections were held on 2 May 2019 for
5883-530: The Conservatives and six to Labour. On Suffolk County Council, Lowestoft and its district are represented by eight councillors, split equally between four divisions: Gunton, Lowestoft South, Oulton and Pakefield. For county council elections, held every four years, Pakefield division includes Carlton Colville. After the 2017 election, seven of Lowestoft's county councillors represented the Conservatives and one Labour. In 2018, one Conservative councillor left
5994-546: The East Point Pavilion the tourist information service. The beach south of the Claremont Pier is a Blue Flag beach . Lifeguard facilities are provided during the summer and water sports take place along the coast. Tourism is a significant aspect of the town's economy. The town features two major attractions, the first being Pleasurewood Hills Theme Park, situated on the northern edge of the town, while
6105-576: The First World War she had an uneventful career as part of the fishing fleet there, operating out into the North Sea fishing grounds. In 1917 German U-boats had started to attack British trawlers, and in response to this, a number of trawlers were armed for self defence. Ethel & Millie was one of these vessels, being equipped with a 6-pounder gun and assigned a naval rating as gunner. In this manner she entered service in February 1917, under
6216-539: The Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth areas, closed in 2011. Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Enterprise Zone was announced in 2011 and launched in April 2012. The zone, developed by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, has six redevelopment sites across Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth . The bid for the zone in 2011 envisaged creating 13,500 jobs by 2036. It involved the Norfolk and Suffolk Energy Alliance and focused on developing
6327-897: The Marina Theatre since 2005. Lowestoft Museum, which holds a collection of Lowestoft Porcelain and artifacts describing the town's history, is in Nicholas Everett Park in Oulton Broad . There are some small museums in Sparrow's Nest Park in the north of the town, including the Lowestoft War Memorial Museum , the Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval Patrol Service Museum. The Heritage Workshop Centre
6438-635: The Triangle Market Place, have been developed on the northern edge of the centre. Several retail parks have appeared, the largest being North Quay Retail Park in Peto Way. Lowestoft is a traditional seaside resort , first developed as a bathing site in the 1760s. The coast has been called the " Sunrise Coast ". The town's main beaches are south of the harbour, where two piers , the Claremont and South piers, provide tourist facilities, and
6549-620: The U-boat sank from view, presumed destroyed ("and that was the end of that sub" ). The other submerged and engaged in a two-hour cat-and-mouse game with I’ll Try , ending when the U-boat surfaced and attempted to torpedo her. This missed, and the U-boat sank under I'll Try' s counter-fire. Both U-boats were adjudged to have been destroyed, and skippers Wharton and Crisp were awarded the DSC and an Admiralty bounty , but post-war examination of records showed no U-boats sunk that day. On 15 August 1917
6660-738: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
6771-445: The administrative county of East Suffolk in 1889, the district contained the parish of Lowestoft, from 1890 to 1907 the district also contained the parish of Kirkley . On 1 April 1974 the district and parish were abolished and became part of Waveney in the non-metropolitan county of Suffolk. It retained a ceremonial mayor elected annually by its district councillors and acting as charter trustees until 2017. Suffolk County Council
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#17327658855966882-725: The area to be traced back 700,000 years. Habitation occurred in the Neolithic , Bronze and Iron ages and in the Roman and Saxon times. Several finds have been made at a Saxon cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill in south Lowestoft. The place name derives from a Norse personal name, Hlothver , and toft , an Old Norse word for homestead. It has been spelt historically as Lothnwistoft , Lothuwistoft , Lestoffe , Laistoe , Loystoft and Laystoft . The 1086 Domesday Book gives Lothuwistoft village some 16 households in three families, with ten smallholders and three slaves. The manor formed part of
6993-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
7104-479: The command of skipper Wharton, and carrying the name Boy Alfred . On 1 February 1917 Boy Alfred , whilst in company with another armed smack, I’ll Try under the command of skipper Tom Crisp , the boats were approached by two U-boats closing in on the surface. One of the U-boats, which were not identified, closed in on Boy Alfred and ordered her crew to abandon ship. As it was in range Wharton opened fire and
7215-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
7326-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
7437-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
7548-459: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
7659-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
7770-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
7881-418: The economy of Lowestoft has declined over the years. Although the tourism sector has grown, the major employers in the town are the wholesale and retail sector, with 18 per cent of employment. Service industries, including health, social care and education are significant employers, while manufacturing employs about 10 per cent of the workforce. Employment can vary seasonally due to the importance of tourism to
7992-438: The economy. In early 2011, around 10 per cent of the working population of the town claimed Jobseekers Allowance . Until the mid-1960s, fishing was seen as Lowestoft's main industry, although from the 1930s the percentage so employed directly and in trades associated with fishing was actually only about 10 per cent. Fleets of drifters and trawlers caught fish such as herring , cod and plaice . Catches have diminished since
8103-475: The energy sector initially using tax incentives, simplified planning regulations and the provision of improved broadband internet services. The sites in Lowestoft are Mobbs Way, Riverside Road and South Lowestoft Industrial Estate. Associated British Ports, the operator of the Port of Lowestoft, published their Lowestoft Masterplan, which aims to regenerate the harbour and take advantage of renewable energy, including
8214-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
8325-692: The fishing industry, activities with the Royal Navy in WWII, and shipwrights' and coopers' tools. Lowestoft is among the more socially deprived areas in Suffolk, with Kirkley the county's most deprived ward, ranking 173rd most deprived in England out of 32,486. The area attracted European Union redevelopment funding. The Waveney Sunrise Scheme invested £14.7 million, funding transport improvements and tourist facilities such as fountains on Royal Plain, as stimulants. Regeneration company 1st East, which focused on
8436-414: The fray, attempting to close and return fire, but she was out-ranged and set ablaze by the U-boat's fire. Manning and the seven-man crew abandoned ship, taking to their lifeboat, but were picked up by the U-boat. They were last seen, by the survivors of Nelson , lined up on the U-boats deck. They were not reported as prisoners of war, and none returned to Britain at the end of hostilities. The suspicion at
8547-645: The gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
8658-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
8769-605: The harbour is an area of old sand dunes known as the Denes, along with more beaches and Ness Point , the easternmost point of the UK. Lowestoft has been subject to periodic flooding, notably in January 1953 , when a North Sea swell driven by low pressure and an extreme high tide swept away many earlier sea defences and deluged most of the southern town. Heavy rain caused flash flooding in the town in September 2006. In December 2013,
8880-411: The harbour. Major local employers include Birds Eye frozen foods, with 700 workers. This has been located in the town for over 60 years. The food-processing company Wessex Foods closed its Lowestoft plant in 2010 after a fire destroyed the factory and it failed to find alternative premises. Several other employers have shed labour in recent years. The Sanyo plant in the town closed down in 2009 with
8991-620: The king's holding in the Hundred of Lothingland , worth about four geld in tax income. Roger Bigod was the tenant in chief. The lost village of Akethorpe may have lain close by. In the Middle Ages , Lowestoft became an important fishing town that came to challenge its neighbour, Great Yarmouth . The trade, particularly for herring , continued as the town's main identity into the 20th century. The naval Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665
9102-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
9213-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
9324-530: The new Lowestoft Eastern Energy Facility (LEEF) on the former SLP land at the outer harbour amongst other projects. The harbour is a focus of redevelopment proposals for Lowestoft through the Lake Lothing and Outer Harbour Area Action Plan , submitted in February 2011. The plan focuses on the redevelopment of brownfield sites in and around the harbour area to create jobs, particularly in the renewable energy and retailing sectors. The town has three theatres:
9435-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
9546-402: The north and high points of 20–30 m (66–98 ft) above sea level. The rock beneath is crag-sand with overlying sand and glacial till deposits with gravel, with the crag exposed at coastal cliffs such as Pakefield 's. Areas around Lake Lothing feature alluvium silt; some marshland remains west of Oulton Broad. The sandy beaches south of the harbour have Blue Flag status. To the north of
9657-486: The north of the town centre, stands 16 metres high at 37 metres above sea level, with a range of 23 nautical miles (43 km). It was automated in 1975. It is the United Kingdom's most easterly lighthouse . The first two lighthouses in Lowestoft were built in 1609 on the foreshore and candlelit, to warn of the dangerous sandbanks around the coast. These were the first constructed by Trinity House . The Low Light
9768-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
9879-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
9990-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
10101-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
10212-531: The party and became an Independent. Lowestoft, the easternmost town in the United Kingdom , lies on the North Sea coast. The town is divided by Lake Lothing , which forms the inner part of Lowestoft Harbour and gives access via Oulton Broad and Oulton Dyke to the River Waveney and the Broads . The northern half is on the island of Lothingland . Lowestoft is mainly low-lying, with hilly areas in
10323-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
10434-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
10545-438: The right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by the monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of
10656-597: The second is the Africa Alive! wildlife park, situated in the south at Kessingland . The town maintains a holiday park at Pakefield , operated by Pontins , and a small caravan site near its northern beach. The natural attractions of the Broads and the River Waveney on the west edge of the town, also attract visitors and been the site for boat trips and water sports events, with companies such as Hoseasons operating hire boats from Oulton Broad . Between 1996 and 2012,
10767-475: The service who died in World War II. Prior to this, it was the site of the "North Battery", which stood on the cliff and was constructed in around 1782. It was a four sided bastion set back from the cliff edge, housing four 18-pounder canon, with a guardhouse and magazine to the rear. All traces are now gone, minus two cannons with are now mounted around the memorial. Lowestoft Lighthouse , built in 1874 to
10878-422: The six new Lowestoft wards. The seats, fourteen in all, are allocated to Carlton and Whitton (2), Gunton and St. Margarets (2), Harbour and Normanston (3), Kirkley and Pakefield (3), Lothingland (1), and Oulton Broad (3). There are also changes to wards adjacent to Lowestoft. After the inaugural 2019 East Suffolk District Council election of 2 May, eight of the fourteen Lowestoft seats over the six new wards went to
10989-476: The town are Lowestoft Cemetery and Kirkley Cemetery . The town is twinned with the town of Plaisir in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France to the west of Paris. Ness Point , the most easterly location in the United Kingdom , is located in the town close to a 126-metre wind turbine , known locally as Gulliver. At the time it was completed it was the country's tallest. At the most easterly point
11100-535: The town hosted a major air show during the summer, dubbed the Lowestoft Airshow. A major attraction, the two-day event took place in August, and featuring a wide range of aircraft including the Red Arrows , a Lancaster bomber , Spitfires and an Avro Vulcan . From 2004, it was run by Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival Ltd, a non-profit company, but suffered financial difficulties. In 2010, the event made
11211-420: The town. Lowestoft is Suffolk's second largest town, after Ipswich , with an estimated population of 58,560 in 2010. The wider urban area brought the estimated population of the built-up area to 73,755 in 2018 from 68,850 at the 2001 census. The town's wider urban area includes the suburbs and villages of Carlton Colville , Gunton , Pakefield , Oulton , Oulton Broad and Kirkley . Other outlying villages in
11322-494: The trawler, now renamed Ethel & Millie and under command of William "Johnsey" Manning , was fishing off the Humber . She was again in the company of I’ll Try , now sailing under the name Nelson . In the afternoon of the 15th Nelson was attacked by an unidentified U-boat (believed to be SM UC-63 ), which fired on her at long range. She was crippled with gun-fire and left sinking. Manning brought Ethel & Millie into
11433-421: The urban area include Blundeston , Corton , Gisleham , Kessingland and Somerleyton . About 10 per cent of the area population at the 2001 census was aged 75 or over and 20 per cent under 16. In general the population of several wards is slightly skewed towards the elderly. The population is mainly classed as "white", with minority ethnicities making up 1.4 per cent, compared with 8.7 per cent nationally. At
11544-487: The world's largest offshore windfarm . The turbines will be located 15 miles (24 km) off the Suffolk coast and the Outer Harbour will be used to house the necessary operational support facilities. Other developments in the renewable energy sector include a prototype tidal energy generator being produced by local company 4NRG and wave power systems developed by Trident Energy. Hoseasons (now part of Awaze ),
11655-648: Was bombarded by the German Navy on 24 April 1916 in conjunction with the Easter Rising . The port was a major naval base during the war, including for armed trawlers such as Ethel & Millie and Nelson used to combat German U-boat actions in the North Sea such as that of 15 August 1917 . In World War II the town was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe for its engineering industry and role as
11766-441: Was a British auxiliary warship which served during World War I . She was built in 1908 as the fishing smack Ethel & Millie , operating from Lowestoft and registered as LT 200. In early 1917 she was armed for defence against U-boat attack, and fought two actions against them. She was sunk in action on 15 August 1917 . Ethel & Millie was a 58-ton trawling smack, built and registered at Lowestoft in 1908. Prior to
11877-466: Was discontinued in 1706 after sea encroachment, but re-established in 1730 in a form that could be easily moved in response to further changes to the Stamford Channel and shoreline. It was discontinued in August 1923. The High Light tower was rebuilt as the present lighthouse in 1874 with the intention of displaying an electric light, but when opened paraffin oil was used instead; not until 1936
11988-558: Was it electrified. The lighthouse, with two cottages originally for lighthouse keepers, is a Grade II listed building . Lowestoft Lifeboat Station, at the mouth of the outer harbour at the South Pier, is one of Britain's oldest, founded in 1801 and open to visitors throughout the year. The lifeboat is Patsy Knight , a Shannon class lifeboat which replaced the Tyne class boat Spirit of Lowestoft in 2014. A former Lowestoft lifeboat
12099-477: Was later used as a brewery and malt kiln. Most of its remaining buildings were demolished in 1955. Sir Samuel Morton Peto 's arrival in 19th-century Lowestoft brought a change in the town's fortunes, including its fishing industry. To help stimulate this, Peto was given the task of building a line for the Lowestoft Railway and Harbour Company, connecting with Reedham and the city of Norwich. This had
12210-544: Was the first in the Second Anglo-Dutch War . Held 40 miles (64 km) off the coast, it was a victory for the English. Lowestoft Porcelain Factory , from 1757 to 1802, was in production for longer than any English soft-paste porcelain manufacturer other than Royal Worcester and Royal Crown Derby , producing domestic pots, teapots and jugs. It stood on the site of an existing pottery or brick kiln and
12321-466: Was used during the Dunkirk evacuation of British forces from France in 1940. The South Broads Lifeboat Station , an inland RNLI station, operated at Oulton Broad in 2001–2011. Lowestoft Town Hall stands in the High Street. Various forms of local government have met or been based on this site since its establishment as a Town House and Chapel in 1570. In 1698 a new Town House was built, incorporating
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