Property-owners looking to make minor alterations to their buildings in Great Yarmouth’s town centre will soon need permission to do so, once new rules are passed.

The borough council has been awarded almost £1m by Historic England to revitalise Yarmouth’s town centre, but a condition placed on the funding requires that the council introduce tighter controls in the area benefitting from it.

A special order, known as an article 4 direction, is proposed to cover a long stretch of land centred around the town’s Market Place and King Street,.

According to a council report it “would remove permitted development rights in relation to new doors, windows, roofs, porches, gates, railings and some exterior painting in order to better maintain the historic fabric and heritage assets within these protected areas”.

This does not mean that such alterations will be impossible, but rather that planning permission would have to be sought for them.

The council’s development control committee will vote at a meeting on Wednesday this week to permit a consultation with the public on the proposal, as it is a lawful requirement that residents be consulted for at least three weeks.