Your council

Breckland: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Breckland District Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, East of England; within the county of NFK. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within Norfolk County Council. ONS code E07000143.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Breckland for 2026–27: £125.45 of a £2,443.67 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 0 opened, 1 closed (1 closure)

Thetford Grammar School — closed; reason recorded: closure, 31 August 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Breckland reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Breckland: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	none budgeted
Highways and transport services	£522,000
Children's social care	none budgeted
Adult social care	none budgeted
Public health	none budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)	£3.8 million
Cultural and related services	£4.1 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£9.2 million
Planning and development services	£2.8 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£6.7 million
Other services	£2.1 million
Total service expenditure	£29.2 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Breckland in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 146,620 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 47 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £23,170 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £578 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 25.9% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 2.4% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £268,905 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 7.7 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Greenhouse gas emissions: 7.1 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 67.3% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 113.9 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 4,925 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

49 seats in 2026. Run by: Conservatives, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Conservative and Unionist 28, Labour Party 9, Independent / Other 6, Reform UK 5, Green Party (E&W) 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 49 councillors, by ward

Philip Cowen (Conservative and Unionist) — All Saints & Wayland
Sarah Suggitt (Conservative and Unionist) — All Saints & Wayland
Fabian Eagle (Conservative and Unionist) — Ashill
Stephen Fraser (Independent / Other) — Attleborough Burgh & Haverscroft
Taila Taylor (Conservative and Unionist) — Attleborough Burgh & Haverscroft
Rhodri Oliver (Conservative and Unionist) — Attleborough Queens & Besthorpe
Samantha Taylor (Conservative and Unionist) — Attleborough Queens & Besthorpe
Tristan Ashby (Conservative and Unionist) — Attleborough Queens & Besthorpe
Scott Hussey (Reform UK) — Bedingfeld
Alison Webb (Conservative and Unionist) — Dereham Neatherd
Linda King (Conservative and Unionist) — Dereham Neatherd
William Richmond (Conservative and Unionist) — Dereham Neatherd
Kendra Cogman (Labour Party) — Dereham Toftwood
Sarah Taylor (Independent / Other) — Dereham Toftwood
Harry Clarke (Labour Party) — Dereham Withburga
Ray O'Callaghan (Labour Party) — Dereham Withburga
Robert Kybird (Conservative and Unionist) — Forest
Sam Chapman-Allen (Conservative and Unionist) — Forest
Marion Chapman-Allen (Conservative and Unionist) — Guiltcross
William Nunn (Conservative and Unionist) — Harling & Heathlands
Robin Hunter-Clarke (Reform UK) — Hermitage
Mark Kiddle-Morris (Conservative and Unionist) — Launditch
Richard Duffield (Conservative and Unionist) — Lincoln
Roger Atterwill (Independent / Other) — Lincoln
Paul Claussen (Conservative and Unionist) — Mattishall
Paul Plummer (Conservative and Unionist) — Mattishall
Peter Wilkinson (Conservative and Unionist) — Nar Valley
Nigel Wilkin (Conservative and Unionist) — Necton
Helen Crane (Conservative and Unionist) — Saham Toney
Peter Bate (Green Party (E&W)) — Saham Toney
Lynda Turner (Conservative and Unionist) — Shipdham-with-Scarning
Paul Hewett (Conservative and Unionist) — Shipdham-with-Scarning
David Wickerson (Independent / Other) — Swaffham
Jacob Morton (Conservative and Unionist) — Swaffham
Judy Anscombe (Independent / Other) — Swaffham
Stephen Askew (Conservative and Unionist) — The Buckenhams & Banham
Stuart Terry (Labour Party) — Thetford Boudica
Terry Land (Labour Party) — Thetford Boudica
Chris Harvey (Labour Party) — Thetford Burrell
David Blackbourn (Labour Party) — Thetford Burrell
Annie Blackbourn (Labour Party) — Thetford Castle
Grahame Middleton (Reform UK) — Thetford Castle
Michael Westman (Reform UK) — Thetford Priory
Mike Brindle (Labour Party) — Thetford Priory
Bill Borrett (Conservative and Unionist) — Upper Wensum
Gordon Bambridge (Conservative and Unionist) — Upper Wensum
Claire Bowes (Conservative and Unionist) — Watton
Keith Gilbert (Independent / Other) — Watton
Tina Kiddell (Reform UK) — Watton

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.