A council chairman has hit out at an 'absolutely devastating' decision to reject a loan for a £2.5m community centre which is already being built.

A firey South Norfolk Council (SNC) meeting last week saw a decision made to reject Easton Parish Council's application for Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds, which is contributed to by housing developers through the planning process.

The parish council planned to use the funds to complete the construction of the community centre which started earlier this year and is due to be completed next spring.

SNC leader John Fuller said that it had arranged funding of around £1m of the original £1.5m projected cost, which has since risen to around £2.5m due to inflation.

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He encouraged the parish council to go to the Public Works Loan Board directly as the £500,000 loan application was rejected.

Norwich Evening News: Easton Parish Council vice chairman, Peter Milliken said to lose some of the facilities would be a tragedy Easton Parish Council vice chairman, Peter Milliken said to lose some of the facilities would be a tragedy (Image: Newsquest)

Peter Milliken, the parish council's vice-chair, said: “This is absolutely devastating for the expanding community in Easton.

"The plans for this fantastic new facility, which came about as a result of the large Persimmon development in the village, will have to be severely cut back unless South Norfolk Council is minded to rethink their decision." 

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Mr Milliken said that SNC leader Mr Fuller was “ignoring the facts” when he claimed the parish council were “double dipping” by claiming the same funding twice.

Norwich Evening News: Building on the new centre started earlier this year Building on the new centre started earlier this year (Image: Patrick May KMC Consulting Ltd)

However, the parish council had said prior to the decision that the report of SNC's officers recommending the rejection to councillors included several errors.

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Mr Milliken continued: “As well as miscalculations, the report has misunderstood the development and repayment timelines, has not taken a balanced view of the scale of the risk, basing their assumption on their inaccurate figures, and has even proposed the option of an increase in the parish council precept by well over 400pc, which is simply unacceptable.

“We will be appealing against this decision and applying to the Public Works Loan Board. 

“To lose a significant proportion of the facilities, including nursery facilities and 24-hour facilities for blue light services, would be a tragedy.”