West Norfolk Council leader Alistair Beales says authority has ‘changed for the better’ in the past year

It may feel like longer, but not even a year has passed since Alistair Beales replaced Terry Parish as the leader of West Norfolk Council.

Since last April, when Cllr Beales emerged victorious from a vote between members of the council’s independent partnership, a lot has changed.

The often petty debates which dominated full council meetings have died down significantly, while a £4million deficit in the authority’s finances has been turned into a £2million surplus.

Looking back on his decision to challenge Cllr Parish now, Cllr Beales believes it has paid off.

He tells the Lynn News: “I felt we had a direction we wanted to go in that differed from where Terry wanted to go in, and it's right to ask the council, ‘What do you think? Which way do you want to go?’

“I think what we have done is calm the council down a bit, and it's now looking at policy - it's not looking at personalities and, well, ‘I'm going to hit she or he over the head because that's what we've always done’.

“I think those days are gone. I hope they never come back.”

Cllr Beales forms a tight-knit unit with his deputy leader, Cllr Simon Ring.

They complement each other well - Cllr Beales has been involved in local politics for years, while Cllr Ring has significant business expertise.

This has contributed to what they believe is an improved culture at the council, with cross-party discussions much more open and constructive than previously.

“I think it's changed for the better. We're trying to involve everyone because every councillor is important,” Cllr Beales says.

“I think we've got pretty good engagement from all areas of the council and people feel that we are trying to pull hard for our community, and they're coming along with us. That's a joy.”

“I don't see all of these petty arguments benefiting residents. We don't have those arguments now,” Cllr Ring adds.

“Credit to the leadership of the other groups as well, because they've done that. They've joined in - they've put a lot of time into working with us.”

That atmosphere contributed to a second half of 2024 which brought with it many highlights.

Hard work has gone into a budget for 2025/26 which this week culminated in confirmation that the authority will not have to dip into its reserves or impact front-line services.

That is in stark contrast to many other councils - while West Norfolk’s council tax levy remains one of the lowest in the country.

“A lot of that is down to the officer team, but it's also down to the councillors, the whole council culture of enabling officers, supporting them,” Cllr Beales says.

“The politics is for us. We will decide it, and that's a really important point.

“It's for us to decide and lead the council in the direction we want it to go. It's not our job to run the council. That's what the officers are for.

“They're the experts. They know the stuff inside out.”

The leader also points to last year being the 500th anniversary of one of the most significant charters in Lynn’s long history, while he was also delighted to see five new aldermen appointed.

Meanwhile, he is pleased with how the council has handled key projects such as the Guildhall theatre revamp despite uncertainty surrounding a devolution deal.

There was some slight concern about that project’s budget increasing towards the end of last year - but Cllr Beales insist this is to be expected at a building which has not been architecturally evaluated since it was built in the 1400s.

“Could we have done some things better, quicker? Yes, but that's with hindsight,” he adds.

“The important thing is the ambition was there - and that was the previous administration, not us, and give them full credit for that.”

Cllr Ring admits there are still some “difficult decisions” to be made with regards to cost surrounding the Guildhall, where major archaeological work is set to get under way in February.

However, the end result will hopefully be worth it.

He also talks of ambitious plans to create more town centre housing, as well as parking corridors on the outskirts of Lynn to reduce traffic on key roads.

But for now, the Guildhall and proposals for new swimming pools in Lynn and Hunstanton are top of the agenda - and he is confident they can get well up and running before potentially being slowed down by a devolution deal.

“I'm extremely confident we'll get both of those (pools) done, as I am confident that the council will support the Guildhall project to the end,” he says.

On devolution specifically, he adds: “One of our jobs is to make sure that we put West Norfolk at the front and centre of this, and I'm very, very confident that we have the leader with the most experience that can do that.”