VILLAGE INFORMATION

Population
in 1961 was 638
in 1971 was 853
in 1981 was 1673
inn 1989 was 1881

Facilities Public House, Filling Station, Church,, Village Hall, School, Public Transport
Total House completions 1998 to 1989 72
Outstnding planning permisions at 1/1/90 143 *
( * NB : All permissions shown are located within the developed part of Diss, which is located within the parish of Roydon. The permissions shown are listed under Diss in the District Council's Residential Land Availability booklet published in July 1990.

Form and Character
The parish contains dispersed development including the village of Roydon, and adjacent area around Brewers Green, parts of Diss west of Shelfanger Road north of Factory Lane, and along Tottington Lane west of Fair Green, part of Bressingham Common along Bressingham Road, and outliers of development at Fen Street and Snow Street (including part of Baynards Lane and Hall Lane) .

Roydon village is located on the A1066 overlooking the Waveney Valley, and comprises mainly several residential estates to the north of the road and a ribbon of development along its south side. Much of the village comprises bungalow development built during the 1960's and 1970's and contains relatively few buildings of note. The village contains several attractive areas of trees however along Bellrope Lane, Swamp Lane off the High Road crossing Waterloo Avenue, and around Roydon Hall and the Diss Rugby Club ground, forming a western boundary to the village. To the north and north east of the village, the adjacent Brewers Green forms an attractive open area of grassland bordered by areas of trees and scrub, several large detached dwellings, and a group of cottages with a farmstead.
Part of this area is also of noted nature conservation value. To the east, an area of open fields containing an isolated row of dwellings on Factory Lane separates Roydon from the developed area of Diss. Elsewhere the village is surrounded by open farmland affording attractive views to Snow Street, and a shallow valley to the north, and across the larger Waveney Valley to the south.

Snow Street, Baynards Lane and Hall Lane are the focus for an outlier of linear development comprising mainly detached dwellings, two farmsteads and a notable number of mature trees and hedgerows. These combine to create an attractive residential environment where the trees form important frontages and visual breaks which enhance the setting of the dwellings. Fen Street comprises an isolated outlier of poultry houses, cottages and assorted detached dwellings along an unmetalled track bordering Roydon Fen to the south. The Fen is an attractive low-lying area of mature trees of acknowledged nature conservation interest.
Tottington Lane is a narrow road forming a south western extension to Diss (Off Fair Green) which comprises a mixture of old and new detached dwellings, a large group of new dwellings around a cul-de-sac and a motor engineer's premises. The development includes several unmetalled tracks adjacent to Roydon Fen and Potash Fen. The area west of Shelfanger Road forms a northern extension to Diss and includes the ex-brush factory complex, a modern housing estate partly completed and a row of bungalows along Louie's Lane. This area is bordered by open farmland to the west and north affording views across a shallow valley. The part of Bressingham within the parish comprises an area of mainly detached dwellings including some attractive mature trees and hedges adjacent to open farmland.

Social and Community Facilities
A reasonable range of facilities is located within the village of Roydon, but there are no facilities in the outlying developments of Snow Street and Fen Street. A range of facilities is available however in Bressingham and Diss, and the parish has mains sewerage served by the sewage treatment works at Diss.

Communications
The A1066 provides Roydon with a direct east-west link to Diss and other settlements along the Waveney Valley. The B1132 provides a further link to the centre of Diss via Roydon Road, and Shelfanger Road ( the B1077 ) provides a northward link to Shelfanger and Attleborough. Doit Lane ( C338) provides access southwards to Wortham (Suffolk), and the C339 provides a further northwards link through Snow Street and Bressingham Road to Bressingham Common, Boyland Common and Shelfanger. The remainder of the parish is served by a series of unclassified minor roads.