South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan (Reg. 19 Pre-submission Draft)

Object

Representation ID: 3106

Received: 06/03/2023

Respondent: Suffolk County Council

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

Generally, SCC supports the draft Village Clusters Local Plan. However, we consider there are some matters that require further evidence for the Plan to be considered sound in accordance with paragraph 35 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
The response makes comments regarding cross boundary issues which may result from the chosen distribution of the Village Clusters Local Plan; particularly around the market towns close to the boundary. These towns will serve communities on both sides of the border, such as Bungay, Beccles and Diss.
Education
The responsibility for providing school places in Norfolk is Norfolk County Council. However, there is movement of school pupils across boundaries (in both directions) due to parental choice.
Transport
The Waveney, Suffolk Coastal and emerging Babergh and Mid Suffolk Joint Local Plan have been prepared with the support of the Suffolk Transport Model. The model shows that the areas of Suffolk that may be affected by the allocations in the Village Clusters Local Plan (mainly towns in the former Waveney area along the Norfolk/Suffolk border) are not on especially constrained parts of the Suffolk highway network. It is not expected, given the small size of the sites, that the proposed allocations would have significant impact on the Suffolk highway network.
However, in our previous response, dated 2nd August 2021, SCC stated that a high-level assessment of the impact caused by the Village Clusters Local Plan should be undertaken.