Broadland & South Norfolk Custom and Self-Build Housing SPD

The Parish Council is supportive of the principal that plots are made available from landowners via the outline planning permission system but then construction is completed by those on the self-builders register.

Whilst it is appreciated that the policy seeks to prevent greenfield development by placing an emphasis on keeping building within the existing built area, and given that the amount of development is limited to a maximum of 3 plots per parish until 2038, then consideration should be given to the built areas with a whole parish and not just to tiny area within a large parish.

The Parish Council is supportive of the principal that the self-builders are constrained to live in the property for a set number of years – we would suggest a minimum of 5, but there should be caveats which protect the builders from exceptional changes in their circumstances such as bankruptcy, family breakdown etc.

The Weston Longville Parish Council does not object to the principal of increasing the number of self-build sites within the Broadland South Norfolk area, as a means of increasing housing stock at more affordable levels (According to the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA), you could save 20–40% in costs to build your home instead of buying one), and maintaining the viability of rural communities which might otherwise see only stagnation.

For the purpose of illustration, the parish of Weston Longville will be used as an example. A map of the parish is attached at the back. Weston Longville Parish covers 1124 hectares and has approximately 140 properties which are split into 53 in the main village, 20 in the area of Morton Lane, 20 in the area of Weston Green, 14 in the area of Rectory Rd and a further 33 spread out across the rest of the parish. The area the main village takes up is approx 5 ha which is less than 0.5% of the total parish area. There is no settlement boundary within the parish. The parish forms part of a village cluster consisting of Great Witchingham, Lenwade, Weston Longville, Attlebridge, Little Witchingham and Morton-on-the-Hill, with Great Witchingham being the service village.
At its closest point, the parish boundary of Weston Longville abutts that of Great Witchingham. At its furthest point the boundary is 4.3 km as the crow flies from Gt Witchingham, with the centre of the village being 2.6 km.
The GNLP Policy 2 SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES indicates that the local services available should include schools, health care, shops, recreation/ leisure/community/faith facilities and libraries. For the parish of Weston Longville there is a pub, a village hall with playing field, and a church situated in the main village, and a Buddhist centre on the edge of the parish. The neighbouring service village of Gt Witchingham provides a selection of small shops, a school serving children of the ages 4-11 and a branch doctor’s surgery. For senior schools, libraries, leisure centres and supermarkets it is necessary to travel outside the village cluster.

Since Weston Longville is without a settlement boundary, the Parish Council has largely centred it comments on the section of the SPD which deals with this.

The Parish Council is supportive of the principal that plots are made available from landowners via the outline planning permission system but then construction is completed by those on the self-builders register.

Whilst it is appreciated that the policy seeks to prevent greenfield development by placing an emphasis on keeping building within the existing built area, and given that the amount of development is limited to a maximum of 3 plots per parish until 2038, then consideration should be given to the built areas with a whole parish and not just to tiny area within a large parish.

The criteria for assessing whether a group of houses is a settlement are far too subjective. The outcome is based on the individual perceptions or interpretations and experiences of the officer, which can vary from person to person. Officers will require a far more in depth knowledge of the local area than is usually required to determine an application. There is no indication as to how an officer will be able to establish either how vital a community is, nor how it maintains that vitality.

In small, rural communities, it is impossible for any one area to thrive and be vital without the support of the other local areas – the pub and village hall may be located in one place but they cannot be sustained without the support of those living outside the immediate proximity. Using Weston Longville as an example, the Parish Council is made up of one councillor who lives within the village, and then two from the Morton Lane grouping, two from Rectory Rd and two from Weston Green – the spread of which means that a whole parish view on decisions can better be taken, as is required under the National Association of Local Councils Good Councillors Guide. The legal framework of the Parish Council’s recognises that a community is greater than just a small area of adjacent houses. The village hall is already a combined enterprise from 3 communities – Weston Longville, Morton on the Hill and Attlebridge. Of the 12 trustees, 6 come from Weston Longville but those 6 are split into 1 from the village centre, 1 from Morton Lane, 1 from Rectory Rd and 3 from Weston Green. This again shows that it takes a large scale community to make such enterprises function, and it is not possible to focus ‘the vitality of rural communities’ into a very narrow area.

In rural Norfolk, with its poor infrastructure of roads and public rights of way, and lack of public transport, accessing any form of services without a car is almost impossible. This means that a great many villages in the village cluster model will have no reasonable safe access to any facilities or services. Simple table top examinations will not give a true reflection of the volumes of traffic and road safety on the ground, and the extent to which people can walk / cycle to places is extremely variable. This again means a high level of subjectivity is required by the officers making the determination.