Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan - Alternative Sites & Focused Changes (Reg. 18)

The Assessment of Sites

A.14. As set out in the previous consultations, over 500 sites have been promoted to the Council and assessed for the VCHAP process. The assessments have been undertaken using the 2016 Norfolk-wide Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) Methodology as the starting point. The HELAA has been agreed as part of the Norfolk Strategic Planning Framework process and is considered to be consistent with Government guidance; it therefore also forms the basis of the GNLP site assessment process.

A.15. Whilst the HELAA provides a starting point, the full Site Assessment for each site was a more detailed process which included looking at the planning history of the site, undertaking a site visit and applying some more detailed criteria. Most notably the site assessment added criteria relating to the local Landscape Character Assessment, Better Broadband for Norfolk and revised the distance to services criteria to better reflect the rural nature of the Village Clusters Plan.

A.16. The Site Assessments were supported by a Technical Consultation with both internal consultees on landscape, heritage and environmental protection issues, as well as a range of external stakeholders, on issues such as highways, utilities and minerals and waste, flood risk and ecology. The Council has engaged in ongoing discussions with the technical consultees in order to seek additional information or clarify specific matters raised and to support the choice sites.

A.17. Copies of the HELAA Methodology and Site Assessment form for the Village Clusters Plan can be found in the archived documents for the January 2023 Regulation 19: https://southnorfolkandbroadland.oc2.uk/document/13.