Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan - Alternative Sites & Focused Changes (Reg. 18)

The Parish Council (PC) of Bawburgh objects to the inclusion within the Cluster Village Plan and Development of 35 Houses in a site on the east of Stocks Hill on the grounds that due process and procedure have not been followed.

Background. In March 2023 as part of Regulation 19, Wheatman Planning submitted an objection to the SNCVAP on behalf of the PC. The PC also re-iterated its objection in July 31st 2023 in a letter to [Leader of South Norfolk Council] and [Director of Place] who forwarded the letter to [Place Shaping Manager].

We are again re-emphasising our objection to the Housing Development and this Regulation 18 ‘Alternate Sites and Focused Changes‘-Consultation. SN Council have ignored the overwhelming objections from the Villagers and made the site bigger.

The Government emphasis since the March 2023 Regulation 18 and 19 submissions have changed significantly due to the December 2023 revision of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The housing target is no longer an overall National target but one to be addressed on local needs and assessment based on an advisory starting point. Therefore SNC’s target of 1200 houses is no longer a Government obligation. We believe that there are more appropriate sites within 2 miles which have not been considered.

Both the Prime Minister and Mr Gove have said that the opinion of the Neighbourhood should be considered when undertaking housing developments. The SN Council knows that the greatest number of objections from any village in the Cluster Scheme were from Bawburgh. These objections are still the case and SN Council are ignoring this, solely because one landowner, who does not live in the village, has offered land.

The Government has also placed emphasis on the protection of greenfield sites and this site in Bawburgh is a sensitive greenfield site by SN’s own documents.
The original concept of clustering villages depleted of development was laudable, but Bawburgh is not part of a cluster and therefore is inappropriate in this scheme and should be removed.

Norwich Southern Bypass Protection Zone (NSBPZ). The proposed site, by SN Council’s own documents, is a sensitive greenfield site. This agricultural land is category 3a, which means it is in the “Best” category (ie 1,2,3a). It should not be used for building unless there is no land available of lesser quality in the area. Both Bawburgh and the site are totally within NSBPZ, overlooking the Yare River Valley. The site is also adjacent to the Village Conservation zone.

Traffic. The current issues of traffic within the village are a grave concern to the residents. Volume of traffic; the speed of the traffic; the poor quality of the four access roads; the narrow ancient bridge which should have a one-way priority system; and the modern use of the roads as a “rat-run” are all concerning when the new development could generate 400 or more extra traffic movements per day.

Facilities: The issue that the facilities already available to the village has been over-represented and /or mis-represented to the Inspectorate already concerns the Parish Council. The village only has a small school, a pub and a village hall and nothing else. There is no daily bus service , no shops , no medical facilities and no safe access by pavement , walkways or trods to shops which are two miles away. This means that residents in affordable houses (a principal objective of the site) will be at a disadvantage.

A recent meeting with Crocus (the designated developers), on January 18th 2024, in front of village people, a Crocus representative made the statement that …. “regardless of the objections raised by the neighbourhood, there would be 35 houses built on this site”. This implies, regardless of Regulation 18, Regulation 19, the Inspectorate’s ruling or planning application that an assurance had already been given by SNC that all these processes will be bypassed. This surely cannot be the case? It would imply that due process has not / will not be applied, as the Council has already assured the developers of an agreement.

There are many examples raised here that clearly show that this proposal is flawed, and that due process and procedure have not been applied to the assessment of the site rather than it was solely proposed by a landowner. Bawburgh Parish Council ask South Norfolk Council to reassess this site and withdraw the site from the SNVCAP. Perhaps SN should remember that their corporate moto is “Working with you, working for you”