Policy VC HAL2: Land at Yarmouth Road west of Hales Hospital

Object

Representation ID: 3059

Received: 02/03/2023

Respondent: Welbeck Strategic Land III Ltd

Agent: James Bailey Planning Ltd

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

With no village primary school, pupils will need to attend the next nearest schools, both based in Loddon and both with a PAN of 60.
This development will bring a population increase of approximately 139 new residents in Hales, which is considerablefor a village with limited services and facilities. With the average UK household having ‘1.24’ cars, it is likely that in addition the allocation will also result in approximately 70 additional cars which will feed into the local highways network.
In the absence of a village primary school, there
will be an increase in car movements between Hales and Loddon, which will put additional pressure on the surrounding infrastructure, and will ultimately lead to reliance on the private car. This is considered contrary to the objectives of both the VCHAP and the GNLP, which is seeking to promote ‘sustainable’ growth.

Object

Representation ID: 3172

Received: 01/03/2023

Respondent: Historic England

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

Whilst there are no designated heritage assets on the site, the former Hales Hospital (grade II listed) lies to the east of the site. Therefore, any development of this site has the potential to impact upon the setting (and significance) of this heritage asset.
We welcome the preparation of the HIA and revised HIA for the enlarged site.
We appreciate that this site was allocated in the previous local plan and also has the benefit of planning permission and that development has commenced.
Reference should be made to the nearby listed Hales Hospital with the addition of a criterion to read:
‘Protect and enhance the grade II listed Hales Hospital through careful layout, design and landscaping’.
Bullet point 4 states that the HER should be consulted to determine the need for any archaeological surveys prior to development. In our view, some assessment is needed to inform any planning application.
We therefore advise that bullet point 4 should be amended to read, ‘Planning applications should be supported by archaeological assessment including the results of field evaluation where appropriate.’

Support

Representation ID: 3259

Received: 03/03/2023

Respondent: Norfolk Wildlife Trust

We welcome the policy wording for hedgerows/trees in Policy VC ROC. We recommend that similar policy wording is applied to the policies listed below to ensure this approach is applied consistently across the Local Plan. Where removal of a tree or any part of a hedgerow is unavoidable, we recommend that policy wording includes reference to mitigation measures, reflecting the updated biodiversity duty required in the 2021 Environment Act to have regard to the enhancement of biodiversity.
VC BB1, VC BRE1, VC HAL2, VC SWA2, VC NEE1, VC WOR2, VC NEW2, VC SPO3, VC TAS1, VC BUR1, VC WIN1.