Lowestoft Town Council
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!
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Excelsior, a maritime icon of Suffolk, is departing Lowestoft on the 4th May for her busy 2024 sailing season, heading to Scotland and the Orkneys, Faroes and Shetland to Lithuania, Finland, Scandinavia and Poland.
This year Lowestoft Town Council and the Excelsior Trust are announcing a partnership and collaboration agreement that will see more local young people being given the opportunity to sail a traditional Lowestoft Trawler on short and long trips. The Trust will be encouraging young people to contact them to apply for bursary funding for sailing experiences.
The Council have commissioned a Lowestoft pennant for the vessel to proudly fly in all foreign ports which will be presented to the Excelsior Trust at an official send off event on Thursday 2nd May. Excelsior’s far-reaching programme this season will include an artists’ residency from Orkney to the Faroe Islands and Shetland in partnership with the Great Yarmouth-based Utter Nonsense Project. Following on from that the vessel will be travelling across to the Baltic taking groups of young people aged 15-25 to participate in the full Tall Ships Races 2024 campaign and will be the only UK historic ship present.
Excelsior Trust spokesperson said: “The support of the Council in this exciting year for us is hugely appreciated. Excelsior will be a roving maritime ambassador for Lowestoft and we are proud to carry the flag of our home port.”
Presenting the pennant to Excelsior skipper Charlotte Hathaway the Town Mayor, Cllr Sonia Barker said: “I am delighted to be able to present this pennant on behalf of the people of Lowestoft as we give an official send off to the Excelsior. As a recipient of the Freedom of the Town in 2021 and as our international ambassador, I am excited to hear about the experiences that local young people will have the opportunity to participate in thanks to this growing partnership between Lowestoft Town Council and the Excelsior Trust.”
Anyone wishing to follow the progress of Excelsior during the Tall Ships Race (27th June to 5th August) can do so here:- Tracker (theexcelsiortrust.co.uk)
To visit this year’s sailing calendar:- 2024 (theexcelsiortrust.co.uk)
Read more on Lowestoft Town Council hosts civic send off for town’s much loved historic ship
The running order for the Annual Assembly of the Town on Tuesday 30th April is now available to view on our website alongside the minutes from the meeting in 2023 and written reports from local organisations.
The meeting is a chance for people to hear about different local organisations and what they have achieved in the past 12 months and what their future projects are.
All are welcome to attend this public meeting which will start at 6pm on Tuesday 30th April at Hamilton House, Battery Green Road. The meeting can also be joined via zoom and will be livestreamed on the Town Council's YouTube Channel.
