We have an email from the GNLP (Greater Norwich Local Plan) team advising on additional sites being proposed for development. Comments from Parishioners and Parish Councils will not be received until later in the year. Only those areas which have a change to the last GNLP consultation have a site “map book”. Wreningham has one: Wreningham CP_mapBook.

The e-mail text is below:

Additional potential sites put forward for Greater Norwich Local Plan

You will be aware that there was a Regulation 18 consultation between January and March this year for the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP). During this consultation, additional sites were proposed by landowners, agents and developers for possible future development and some of the previous site boundaries were revised. Approximately 200 additional or revised sites have been put forward throughout the three districts of Broadland District Council, Norwich City Council and South Norfolk Council. In addition, small sites below 0.25ha, which were not subject to the Regulation 18 consultation, will need to be considered by us in the context of potential changes to settlement boundaries.

There will be another Regulation 18 consultation later this year (probably starting in October) during which the parish council and your residents will be able to make comments on the additional and revised sites and settlement boundary proposals. Until this time there is no mechanism for recording comments against sites, but we wanted you to have as much time as possible to consider sites put forward in your parish. The information about the additional sites, revised sites, and proposals to change the settlement boundaries has been published on our website at the following link:

http://www.greaternorwichgrowth.org.uk/planning/greater-norwich-local-plan/reg-18-consultation-sites-2018/

At this link you will find a schedule of sites and associated map booklets for each parish. The schedule is sorted by district then parish, and sets out the unique reference number for each site, its location/address, and provides details of the proposed development. The map booklets are arranged by parish and show the boundaries of each site alongside the unique reference number. Only parishes containing sites which are new, revised, or proposed changes to settlement boundaries have a map book.

A few key points should be noted about the latest publication of sites:

  • There has not yet been any analysis of the sites newly submitted or revised, and further work is needed to identify constraints, and whether any such constraints can be overcome. Therefore no assumption can be drawn as to the acceptability (or otherwise) of any sites.
  • Far more land has been submitted for consideration than will be needed. Many sites will be inappropriate for allocation due to unresolvable constraints (such as landscaping, flood risk, poor access to services etc) and others, whilst not unacceptable in principle, will be less suitable for allocation than “competitor” sites. Growth will be carefully planned to ensure it is located in the most appropriate locations, and will be supported by appropriate and timely infrastructure provision.
  • The current long list of sites will be refined. Some sites, or parts of sites, have been submitted twice, once by the landowner and once by a land promoter. Some sites already allocated in adopted local plans have been re-submitted (perhaps with requests for changes to adopted policy clauses, or a different mix in the development type proposed), so are not ‘new’ sites per se.
  • It is also likely that further sites will be promoted during the production of the GNLP. This is a somewhat iterative process.
  • It will not be until the full public consultation programmed for late this year that the HELAA analysis of all sites will be made available.

About Michael Hill

Wreningham Parish Council Chair

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