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

Bennett Homes support the allocation of this site for residential development, but have the following comments to make on the detail of the allocation.

As set out in our previous representations, this brownfield site is a sustainable location for new housing development. The Introductory Chapter to the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocation Plan states that the Village Clusters Plan “aims to deliver sustainable growth within the villages of South Norfolk” and “The Plan allocates a series of smaller sites, typically within the range of 12 to 50 homes, across the 48 Village Clusters in South Norfolk, to accommodate at least 1,200 new homes in total.” The site at Bobbins Lane, Swardeston is identified as a preferred allocation and 1 ha of land is allocated for approximately 20 dwellings.

At the Regulation 18 consultation stage in July 2021 the site was allocated as a preferred allocation for up to 25 dwellings on 1.6ha of land. Bennett Homes responded to this consultation suggesting that to make efficient use of the land, the 1.6 ha site could be developed for up to 40 dwellings (still within the village cluster plan range of 12-50 dwellings) as the indicated site area was too large to efficiently accommodate 25. Correspondence from the Council in August 2022, indicated that reduction of the site area was being considered to “better reflect the objectives of the VCHAP (i.e. sites typically between 0.5-1ha in area and accommodating between 12-25 dwellings)”. It requested;“our thoughts on whether this would be sufficient to accommodate 25 dwellings”.
Our response to this correspondence provided a sketch site plan BWSW-CF-ZZ-01-SK-A-0001_P1180 August 2022 (see attached) showing how 25 dwellings could be accommodated on a reduced site area of 1.2 ha taking into consideration site constraints and provision of adequate public open space. This would have ensured that the site could deliver housing within the range expected by the Village Clusters Plan and be of a scale previously identified by the Council at Regulation 18 stage as appropriate for this site location. Bennett Homes is therefore, surprised to see that instead of amending the allocation to 1.2ha for 25 dwellings, to reflect the design and constraints work undertaken for this particular site, the allocation area has been reduced to 1 ha for approximately 20 dwellings. In our view this does not ensure that best use is made of the available land in this location, particularly when policy SWA1 is seeking “retention and protection of the mature trees along the north boundary of the site, and the introduction of an appropriate boundary to the east of the site to contain it within the landscape and integrate it into the rural context”. Furthermore, the Village Clusters Plan is seeking to “accommodate at least 1,200 new homes in total” so it is not logical to reduce numbers on this site to approximately 20, when 25 could be easily accommodated on available land within the control of Bennett Homes. A 1.2ha site as shown on sketch site plan BWSW-CF-ZZ-01-SK-A-0001_P1180 August 2022 would provide certainty regarding the delivery of 25 dwellings in this location, mindful of site constraints and in line with the objectives of the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocation Plan.