Residents in Stalham are to be asked whether they want their town council to buy a key piece of land off the High Street.

A questionnaire from Stalham Town Council will shortly be dropping through the letterboxes of 1,500 homes.

It will ask whether householders agree that Stalham Town Council should buy the old station site, and for their views on how the land should be developed.

The leaflet warns that, if a deal did go ahead, it would mean a hike in council tax of about £25 a year for a Band D payer.

The move follows many months of agonising by the town council which voted last September to buy the 1.55 acre plot from Norfolk County Council for £250,000.

The decision divided councillors with those in support claiming that the county would otherwise sell it to the highest bidder and the site, at the town's prominent north-western gateway, could be over-developed with homes.

The town council has since been given permission from the Public Works Loan Board to apply for a loan, repayable over 15 years.

But the process has stalled in recent months, hindered in part by May's county council elections.

Duncan Edmonds, who took over as town council chairman last month, told Monday's town council meeting: 'Before we can proceed any further we need a mandate from the electorate and we feel this questionnaire is the best way to do it.'

Residents have until the end of August to return their forms and a public meeting will be held in September to discuss the result.