The Parish of Belton with Browston is situated in the south west of the Borough of Great Yarmouth, to the east of the River Waveney. The larger village of Belton is separated from its smaller partner of Browston by the A143 which runs from Great Yarmouth to Beccles and beyond.
The joint Parish has over 4500 inhabitants in over 1650 properties, all but 50 being in Belton.
Until 1974 Belton was in Suffolk, in the Lothingland Rural District but was transferred to Great Yarmouth and the county of Norfolk in local government boundary reorganisation.
Until the 1960s-70s it was mainly market gardens with produce taken by train to London, until its closure in 1959. The railway travelled from Yarmouth Southtown to London and Belton had its own station, The railway closed in 1959 as part of a “major re-evaluation of the British Railways network”.
From the 1970s rapid development saw the population escalate and virtually all the market gardens were bought up for housing land with most building completed by the early 1980s.
Today the village is a thriving community, the one very small village school was closed with Waveney First School (1959) and Breydon Middle being built on adjoining sites in the centre of the village, this has again changed in 2008 with The Moorlands C of E Primary School taking over from the other two schools as population changes have resulted in less children in the area in the under 11 age group. There is now also the Village Green Childrens Centre on the same site for children under school age, this covers Belton, Burgh Castle, Bradwell, Browston, Fritton and St. Olaves areas.
Today there is one convenience store in the parish, under national chain ownership, at Bell Lane where it also houses the Post Office and is supported by a cafe, ladies hairdressers and a take away. The village has one very large Holiday Park, nationally owned and a small caravan and camping site although there are several other holiday interests in adjoining villages, virtually all employment is outside the village, either in Great Yarmouth itself or in surrounding towns.
There are two public houses, The (Railway) Tavern and the Kings Head on opposite sides of the village the latter with a function room that has stood for many years in the past it also had the tourist attraction, Belton Gardens, laid out behind it. The Tavern also has a Fish and Chip shop on the same site.
Play is catered for by the Bell Lane Playing Field with various items of equipment for teenage and younger children. The New Road Sports Field has a new Sports and Leisure building constructed in 2010 on the outskirts of the village which is managed by the Parish Council and is currently a base for the very successful multi teamed Bohemians Youth Football Club.
Most of the club and group activity takes place in the John Green Institute, which although small for the size of the village has been extremely well supported since it was saved from demolition by a local businessman in 2005 ( originally simply known as the Institute the foundation stones were laid as far back as 1896). There is also the Moorlands School and the Church Annex.
There is an independent monthly news magazine produced in the village, “Village Voice” and this circulates in Belton and the surrounding parishes It is produced by board made up of a group of parishioners with the intention of ploughing any surplus funds back into the community in the form of grants to local organisations.
Although inside the borough of Great Yarmouth, the village has rural boundaries, with the river Waveney to the west, open land to most sides and two open common areas, Belton Common and Howards Common the south west corner also in the north is Belton Fen, a natural area that is owned and managed privately as well as Bland Corner, a wet area adjoining the remnants of a small but very old orchard which is owned by the villages Bell Lane charity but managed for the community by the Parish Council to ensure that it remains an open space.