Training bid lodged for North Lynn site

County education chiefs have outlined plans for a new training facility, serving the construction industry, in North Lynn.

Officials want to establish a Construction and Environmental Sustainability Centre at a site on Bryggen Road and are seeking planning permission for a formal change of use.

But documents submitted to Norfolk County Council planners, who will decide if the scheme should proceed, admit the clock is ticking on the scheme.

The application seeks the conversion of a unit on the North Lynn Industrial Estate to accommodate up to 36 students and four staff.

Papers submitted as part of the application said: "Norfolk County Council’s Adult Learning department is seeking to establish a Construction and Environmental Sustainability Centre in a vacant unit on North Lynn Industrial Estate.

"This is being undertaken as part of the Council’s Adult Learning, Community Renewal Fund Project to enable adults to upskill, retrain or reskill in the construction industry where there is a significant skills gap at present.

"This project is operating under a time critical programme, with the centre needing to be up and running by June 30th 2022."

The papers also argue the scheme would support the local economy and provide "a clear social benefit of providing opportunity to deprived adults to learn and upskill in an industry where there is a significant skills gap."

If approved, the application would allow for a formal change of use of the building which the papers say was previously the premises of a plastic fabrication company.

West Norfolk Council has been invited to comment on the plan, as a statutory consultee.

But the area's county councillor, the current borough Deputy Mayor Lesley Bambridge, has already indicated her support.

No date has been given for a decision on the application.