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

The parish council believes that this site should be removed from the plan.

Bracon Ash & Hethel Parish Council has the following submissions in respect of the South Norfolk District Council Village Clusters Plan. (Comments attributed to relevant points on the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan (Reg. 19 Pre-submission Draft) at https://southnorfolkandbroadland.oc2.uk/document/12 - points may be duplicated)

The parish council was of the opinion that the Local Plan was unsound because the evidence it is based upon is out of date and no longer relevant. The NPPF states that “Reviews at least every five years are a legal requirement for all local plans (Regulation 10A of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012)” There is no evidence of any reviews having taken place.

Comments on carried forward allocations

25.25 BRA1 – Land at Norwich Road

A previous planning application (2016/0713) was refused by South Norfolk Council for the following reasons:-

“A development in this location would lead to the unacceptable urbanisation of the area, by virtue of its scale and mass being inappropriate adjacent to the rural character of the existing settlement. The extent of proposed development would result in an overwhelming level of harm to the rural character and appearance of this edge of village gateway location.

The proposed development is not considered to present sufficient public benefits to justify causing less than substantial harm to the setting of the Grade II listed buildings known as Home Farm House and Thatch Cottage, in particular in the case of Home Farm House where there will be significant loss to its open countryside setting from development to the north.

The proposed development does not represent a sustainable development, having regard to the three tests set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), by virtue of the harmful impact on the character and appearance of the existing area through unacceptable urbanisation and the setting of the adjacent listed buildings which significantly and demonstrably outweigh the identified benefit of providing 20 new dwellings in a location (Norwich Policy Area) where a 5 year housing land supply cannot be demonstrated and is therefore contrary to the aims of the NPPF 2012.”

There are no services in the village with shops, schools and medical facilites not safely accessible on foot and with limited opportunity to widen the marrow pavement. The school and doctors surgery is already oversubscribed.

Drainage is a major concern with no realistic solution available to deal with surface water, the ditch indicated for drainage does not belong to the site and there are no reiparian rights to use this. Any run off could damage the Bracon Ash County woiildlife site so any drainage must be via a road side ditch.

The main sewers in the village are currently not large enough to cope with existing drainage and results in frequent significant flooding in Mergate Lane and Hawkes Lane, often consisting of sewage.

Access and egress from the B1113 is a serious concern and the requirement to front houses onto and access the site directly from the B1113 will introduce an unacceptable increase in road safety and will impact on existing accesses into this road from neighbouring agricultural fields and Poorhouse Lane.

A sustainability assessment prepared by AECOM on behalf of South Norfolk Council stated “that the option of increasing development at lower order settlements i.e. service villages and other villages is also considered unreasonable given limited facilities in these locations and given the various planning permissions that are in place it is important to bear in mind the JCS Policy 9 requirement that “The locations of the smaller sites will be decided in accordance with the settlement hierarchy.”
It goes on to say “There are however, a few limited opportunities to delete a proposed allocation at settlements where planning permission has not yet been granted and where allocation numbers are above the minimum level. Specifically at Poringland, Swardeston, Stoke Holy Cross, Newton Flotman and Bracon Ash / Mulbarton where there is the potential to delete a proposed allocation.”

Bracon Ash & Hethel was originally allocated 20 – 30 houses and this number has already been built. In a village with no facilities or suitable pedestrian access the parish council believes there has been sufficient new homes built in the parish to satisfy demand.

The parish council believes that this site should be removed from the plan.