Lowestoft Town Council
The Grade II Lowestoft Town Hall was built during the late Victorian period and has been vacant since 2015. It is a prominent landmark on Lowestoft's historic High Street. Now owned by Lowestoft Town Council, grant funding from the Heritage Fund, Towns Fund and East Suffolk Council is supporting a project to restore and extend it.
The restored Town Hall will be transformed into a multifunctional community building - 1,900sqm over two floors - bringing significant footfall to this deprived area.
Lowestoft Town Council and the Registrars will become 'anchor' tenants; the remainder of the building will include a heritage gallery, a café, art gallery, coworking space, meeting rooms and events spaces, around a courtyard garden.
The development of the Town Hall is intended to contribute to economic regeneration, part of a multimillion-pound investment programme in this most easterly town.
The works consist of
• Demolition of some parts of the current structure/strip out of later additions to the building.
• Extensive reconfiguration and restoration of the existing buildings, including conservation of the historic fabric, including lime plaster, mouldings, original sash windows and doors, original floors etc and slate roof replacement.
• Construction of a new events space with prep kitchen and bar, and an art gallery
• M&E throughout including low carbon technologies (air source heat pumps, PV panels, MVHR etc), fire and security alarms; lifts; AV support.
• Groundworks, services and landscaping.
Full contract tender details can be found on Contracts Finder.
Tender documents can be accessed by emailing admin@lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk
Closing Deadline: 5 August 2024, 12pm
Read more on Lowestoft Town Hall | Refurbishment and Construction of Extensions
The newly refurbished tennis courts at Normanston Park will be open from tomorrow (Thursday 20th June).
The courts can be booked using the same system that was introduced in Kensington Gardens with the simple-to-use online booking system to ensure that you can enjoy the tennis facilities at a time convenient to you. Booking online requires having a free LTA Advantage account, which is also quick and simple to set up and gives you access a range of LTA resources and access to court bookings across the country.
If you have any issues with the online booking system or gaining access to the courts, please contact the Town Council.
Read more on Free-to-access tennis courts at Normanston Park to Open
This year Heritage Open Days is celebrating its 30th Anniversary and is creating a special gallery page to mark the occasion. The Anniversary Gallery will showcase the many different sites, stories and people that make up the national Heritage Open Days events.
We are delighted that the Town Hall has been shortlisted from hundreds of entries to be a part of this gallery but we now need your help to make it into the final choice! All you need to do is go to the HODs website and vote for the Town Hall in the Eastern Region category.
Voting closes on 30th June before the final announcement is made in July!
Read more on Vote for the Town Hall to be in the HODs Anniversary Gallery
The Marina Theatre is to be upgraded to improve to audience facilities as part of the creation of a cultural quarter for Lowestoft. The works will consist of the creation of a new theatre entrance within a new link building between the existing Victorian Theatre and the more modern Zenith Building. The new link incorporates a lift to give access to all floors of the Theatre, new toilets and a new box office. The new link will replace an existing single storey structure which will be demolished as part of this contract. The contract also includes some refurbishment works to the Theatre and the Zenith Building.
Lowestoft Town Council are holding an open day for interested tenderers to find more details of the project on 17th June at the Theatre to attend please contact Lowestoft Town Council by email admin@lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk.
Procurement Route - The current intended procurement route is an open process which will be published on Contracts Finder 22nd July 2024
Procurement reference LTH MT
Procurement stage Future opportunity
Approach to market date 22 July 2024
Read more on Contract Opportunity | Marina Theatre - Construction Contract
The tennis courts at Kensington Gardens are now OPEN!
Following closure as part of a project in partnership with the LTA - Tennis For Britain to upgrade all our tennis courts, local residents and visitors can once again enjoy free-to-access tennis in the picturesque Kensington Gardens.
Access to the tennis courts is available through the new online booking system which allows for free booking of the tennis courts. To book the courts, users will need to sign up for a free LTA Advantage account before they can then book your sessions (from 30 minutes to 2 hours) up to two weeks in advance.
Bookings can be made via https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/kensington-gardens or by scanning the QR-code on the gate at Kensington Gardens. Please then follow the instructions on the gate for inputting your access code (codes are valid 10 minutes prior to you booking slot.)
At the Annual Meeting held on Tuesday 21st May 2024, Councillor Nasima Begum was elected as the Mayor of Lowestoft Town Council for the Municipal Year 2024/2025. Councillor Elise Youngman was appointed as Deputy Mayor.
At the start of the meeting, the outgoing Mayor Cllr Sonia Barker reflected on the past year, saying “it has been a huge privilege and honour to serve the people of Lowestoft as your Mayor over the past 12 months”.
Cllr Sonia Barker reflected on the importance of the role of the Mayor in championing the local community and chairing the council, and on the large projects that have been delivered during her tenure such as the raising of funds for the Town Hall regeneration project, the free-to-access Bulky Waste collection scheme and the Lowestoft’s first Pride. Cllr Sonia Barker ended her speech by thanking her fellow councillors and all the staff at Lowestoft Town Council.
During the meeting, Cllr Nasima Begum was handed the Mayoral Chain. On accepting the role of Mayor of Lowestoft, Cllr Nasima Begum said, “it is the honour of my life to be elected as Mayor of Lowestoft Town Council for this civic year. I have been privileged to have been Deputy Mayor for the past three years. I would like to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me. I have always thought that a grassroots body like the Town Council should reflect the society it represents, so it is important to have councillors of all ages and backgrounds. As a young councillor, a woman, a mum and someone from an ethnic and religious minority I will try to use my time as Mayor to support the Town Council in working on behalf of everyone in Lowestoft, and to show that young, working parents and other people who do not normally engage with local government can not only engage with it but can be part of it themselves. Thank you to my fellow councillors for putting your faith in me. I hope, with your help, I can do a good job.”
On being appointed as Deputy Mayor, Cllr Elise Youngman said, “I would like to formally accept the role of Deputy Mayor and thank everyone who voted for me. I am looking forward to working with the new Mayor of Lowestoft and all the other councillors and staff at Lowestoft Town Council during the next civic year, especially with a lot of up-and-coming projects and events taking place”.
The elected chairs for the following committees are: Assets, Inclusion and Development Committee, Councillor Robert Breakspear; Climate and Ecological Emergency Committee, Councillor Paul Page; Finance and Governance Committee, Councillor Andy Pearce; Personnel Committee, Councillor Christian Newsome; and Planning Committee, Councillor Jen Jones. The Marina Theatre Project Committee and Town Hall Project Committee are both chaired by the Mayor of Lowestoft, Cllr Nasima Begum.
The Full Council will next meet on Thursday 30th May at 6:30pm at Hamilton House. 
Read more on Cllr Begum elected Mayor of Lowestoft at Town Council AGM
The dedicated service of Lowestoft’s Lifeboat Crew past, present and future has been recognised by Lowestoft Town Council as it conferred the honorary title of Freedom of the Town.
At a short ceremony on Sunday 19th May, the Mayor of Lowestoft, Cllr Sonia Barker, awarded the Freedom of the Town to representatives of the current and past Lifeboat Crew in Lowestoft.
Speaking at the event, the Mayor of Lowestoft, Cllr Sonia Barker said, “it is an honour to be here today as we confer the title of Freedom of the Town to the Lowestoft Lifeboat Crew – past, present and future. Lowestoft has one of the oldest lifeboat stations, being founded in 1801, some 23 years before the RNLI was established. Ever since this presence has been in Lowestoft, a team of dedicated volunteers - of which I am delighted that some of the present volunteers are here today - have faced all kinds of dangers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to make sure that everyone out at sea is safe. This long, outstanding service and show of courage has saved many lives and will continue to do so.”
A representative from the Lifeboat Crew Operations Team said, “it is an honour to have received such a high accolade in recognition of the hard work our crews put in to keep our coastlines safe”.
The Freedom of the Town is the highest award that the Town Council can offer. Previous recipients have included The Excelsior, John Wylson and Christopher Brooks.
Read more on Lowestoft Lifeboat Crew awarded Freedom of the Town
With the near completion of the tennis court upgrades at Denes Oval, Kensington Gardens and Normanston Park in partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association, we are getting ready to launch the new booking system.
Use of the tennis courts will remain free with this simple-to-use booking system ensuring that you can have peace of mind that a tennis court will be available to you when you want it.
Ahead of the launch of this system, we're encouraging local residents we're encouraging local residents (if you haven't already) to sign-up early to the LTA Advantage website with your free account. This will give you access to the tennis court booking system when our courts are opened (and there are lots of other benefits too!)
Registering is quick and easy (and free) via this link 
https://www.lta.org.uk/register/
The final touches are being put in place on the tennis courts at Kensington Gardens and Normanston Park with the aim of them being available to use when the booking system is launched in a few weeks time!
