Object

Representation ID: 1659

Received: 30/07/2021

Respondent: Wortwell Parish Council

The site is in the very heart of the village and ten houses would be an overdevelopment of a site that is currently used as the main access for walkers, via a public footpath, between the centre of the village and the lakeside development and further rural walks beyond this field that in turn form part of a circuit back up Mill Lane to the Bell Inn.

This is a very beautiful meadow that allows for much habitat including nesting owls and bats and other wildlife something the landowner himself has promoted many times.

While the plan does suggest a ‘small’ increase from 5 to 10 In reality this is a doubling by 100% of the previously agreed development.

This decision will create an estate in the centre of the oldest part of the village and we know from the research above that it will also create a need for at least 20 cars being parked and the attending increase in traffic on a busy crossroads and blind bend.

Coupled with the need for turning space and with access directly onto a very short stretch of road between the main crossroads and a right hand bend in the road, which itself links to the aforementioned lane much used by walkers, will be problematic at best and dangerous at worse.

We have accepted that 5 was manageable and would tolerate it increasing by one further building to 6 but that we believe is the limit that such a site should allow.

To allow a small housing estate of 10 houses in the heart of the oldest part of the village would bring a dominance completely out of character with the rest of the area. It should be noted that SNDC has already rejected another site proposing four bungalows as looking too much like forming an estate.

The land has not itself flooded recently although it does get very wet and muddy during the winter months. However, the flooding in December of Redenhall Road, High Road, Low Road, the marshes and the field opposite this site does cause concern if this is even suitable at all for building land. We are aware that the land is very ‘soft’ and low lying, close to the water table. It may require a great deal of work to make the land stable enough for just five dwellings and the road infrastructure required. Ten would surely compromise the integrity of the land even further.

There is a stream running alongside the land which does run very fast in the winter. We have concerns that this stream would become polluted and compromised by such an extensive construction operation.