Broadland's Cabinet has agreed a loan for Blofield's new hall, cafe and preschool on the old school site. What is being built, and when it should open.

Blofield’s new community hub has won the backing of Broadland District Council. The council’s Cabinet agreed on 15 September to lend Blofield Parish Council money from its Community Infrastructure Fund to help build it.

The hub will stand on the old Blofield Primary School site off Plantation Road. It brings a hall, a cafe, a preschool and a 57-space car park to a village that has grown fast.

The size and terms of the loan are not public. Cabinet took the item in private, and the draft minutes say only that the loan will “support the timely delivery of an infrastructure project” (Broadland Cabinet, 15 September 2026, draft minutes).

What is being built

The parish council says the finished hub will have:

  • a dedicated preschool with a forest school
  • a large hall for hire, big enough for major events
  • kitchen facilities and a cafe
  • an office for the parish clerks
  • 57 car parking spaces, including disabled bays, and bike stands
  • the new play park, which the parish council calls “the best Play Park in Norfolk”

The preschool will use the old Year 6 classroom, renovated (Blofield Parish Council, Blofield Park).

The parish council’s 2025 brief for the design team gives the main hall as 110 square metres, with a moveable divider so it can be split in two. The cafe is 26 square metres (Blofield Parish Council tender brief, 2025).

Computer-generated impression of a single-storey brick community hub with a flat-roofed canopy extension, large windows and glazed doors
The community hub extension as the architects imagine it. This is a computer-generated visualisation, not a photograph. Image: Blofield Parish Council.

What it costs and who is paying

The build contract is estimated at £1,200,000 before VAT, or £1,440,000 with it. That figure comes from the notice the parish council published to find a builder (Find a Tender, Blofield Park Community Hub, notice 2026/S 000-021104).

The parish council has put all of its Community Infrastructure Levy money into the project. That is the parish’s share of the charge councils levy on new development. It calls the hub a “once in a lifetime opportunity”.

The play equipment was paid for separately. National Highways funded it from the social value fund it set up for parishes affected by the A47 dualling, after an award in 2024 (Blofield Parish Council, Blofield Park).

The Broadland loan now sits alongside that money. Neither council has said how large it is.

How long it has taken

The parish council describes it as the most complex project it has ever taken on.

Timeline of the Blofield Park community hub: the primary school moved in April 2025, the land was transferred in May 2026, planning permission was granted on 23 June 2026, the play park opened in summer 2026, Broadland Cabinet agreed a loan on 15 September 2026, the build is due to start in September 2026, the preschool must be finished by 25 March 2027, and practical completion is targeted for May 2027
From school site to community hub. Graphic by Broads News.
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The school moved to its new building in April 2025. Legal delays with Norfolk County Council and UK Power Networks meant the land did not pass to the parish council until May 2026.

The hub itself won full planning permission on 23 June 2026. The application, 2026/0809, was for a “New community building (F2) including nursery (Ef)”, and it was approved with conditions (South Norfolk and Broadland planning register, 2026/0809).

The builder’s notice sets out the timetable:

  • contract estimated to run from 1 September 2026 to 30 April 2027
  • the preschool section finished no later than 25 March 2027, so it can be fitted out over the Easter holidays
  • practical completion by May 2027, subject to the builder’s agreed programme

The play park that drew the crowds

The play park opened quietly for the summer holidays. It did not stay quiet.

The parish council says social media posts brought a sharp rise in visitors from outside Blofield. There is no parking on the site, and cars ended up on the pavements. At its meeting on 10 August the council heard the playground had been “very well received”. It put up parking signs, and police agreed to patrol more often (Blofield Parish Council minutes, 10 August 2026).

The parish council said the park would close at the end of the summer holidays for the build.

Has a builder been chosen?

Not publicly. At the 10 August meeting the parish council agreed a preferred contractor in private session. It planned to meet the firm to settle final points before appointing it.

Its Blofield Park page still says a principal contractor will be appointed “shortly”. No contractor has been named yet.

What it means for you

  • The play park is due to close for the build. Check before you go. There is no parking on the site.
  • The preschool is due in the renovated classroom by spring 2027, if the programme holds.
  • The hall and cafe are due by May 2027. Local groups looking for a hall will be able to hire it.
  • Jobs and volunteering: the parish council says the hub will bring both. It asks anyone interested to contact the parish clerk at clerk@blofield-pc.gov.uk.

For other building work in and around the village, see our Broadland planning news. For road closures, including the Woodbastwick Road closure at Blofield, see Broadland roadworks this week.

Sources