Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Norfolk

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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) recently launched a consultation on proposals for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Norfolk. All three proposals submitted for Norfolk are now open for consultation until 11 January 2026.

The proposals:

  • South Norfolk Council’s proposal for a two-council model
  • Other districts’ proposal for a three-council model
  • Norfolk County Council’s proposal for a single unitary authority

The consultation is here: Consultation on Proposals for Local Government Reorganisation in Norfolk and Suffolk – Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – Citizen Space

You are invited to respond to the consultation and to share your views. Your input will help in shaping the future of local government in Norfolk.

For more information contact

Sinead Carey, Strategic Advisor & Deputy Monitoring Officer sinead.carey@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

National Grid Norwich to Tilbury update

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We received the following from the Project Director, Simon Pepper:

Norwich to Tilbury submits Development Consent Order application

National Grid has today submitted an application for a Development Consent Order for Norwich to Tilbury. This submission is a landmark moment and follows more than three years of consultation with landowners, local communities and stakeholders. Their comments, along with environmental and technical assessments have helped us to develop our final proposals. 

Our proposals include a new transmission line between Norwich and Tilbury along with two new substations. If consent is granted, the project will boost electricity capacity across a region that has historically had limited transmission infrastructure. 

This project is a key part of The Great Grid Upgrade, 17 major infrastructure projects in England and Wales designed to help deliver more homegrown British energy to where it is needed, boosting local economies, creating jobs, and providing cleaner, more affordable energy. 

The Great Grid Upgrade is vital to increase Britain’s energy security and meet growing demand for electricity in the years ahead. With demand expected to double by 2050, the Norwich to Tilbury upgrade will provide enough electricity to power up to six million homes and businesses. 

The Planning Inspectorate now has up to 28 days to decide whether to accept the application. If accepted, our submission documents will be published on the Planning Inspectorate’s website. This will include a Consultation Report providing responses to the feedback submitted during the 2024 statutory consultation and the targeted consultations earlier this year.  

The Planning Inspectorate will then appoint an Examining Authority which will hold a six-month examination of our application. Local residents, landowners and our stakeholders will be able to register an interest at that point so they can provide comments and take part in the examination period. We provide more information on how to take part if our application is accepted.  

Following examination, the Examining Authority will then prepare a detailed report along with its recommendation to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.  The Secretary of State then has three months to decide whether to approve the application.  

We expect the whole process to take around 18 months.  

I would like to thank you and your parish Councillors for your continued engagement as we developed our proposals. If you would like any further information, please get in touch.  

Yours faithfully 

Simon Pepper 

Project Director  (contact@n-t.nationalgrid.com)

Norwich to Tilbury 

Landscape Susceptibility – Consultation 9 July to 18 August

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Draft South Norfolk Landscape Susceptibility in relation to energy generation, storage and transmission Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) 09 July – 18 August 2025.

South Norfolk Council are seeking views on their draft Landscape Susceptibility in relation to energy generation, storage and transmission SPD. It provides guidance and information for energy related planning applications.

To view the draft SPD and respond to the consultation visit the website here. Paper copies of the document and response forms are available at libraries and the Millennium Library in Norwich.

The consultation closes at 5pm on Monday 18th August.  After this date all the responses received will be considered and amendments made to the SPD as appropriate. 

If you have any questions or experience any difficulty in submitting your comments online, please telephone us on 01508 533805 or email localplan.snc@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

Supplementary Planning Documents for South Norfolk Council

SPDs help explain how certain policies in the Local Plan should be used when making planning decisions. They don’t create new policies, but they do give extra detail and guidance to make the planning process clearer. SNC has several SPDs to support planning in South Norfolk, which you can see below.

Planning for a greener future in South Norfolk, balancing progress with protection: South Norfolk Landscape Susceptibility in relation to Energy Generation, Storage and Transmission Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) Draft

View the consultation document

South Norfolk is quickly becoming a focus for new energy infrastructure projects. As proposals for solar farms, battery storage, substations, and powerlines increase, it’s vital to understand how these developments could impact our diverse landscapes, from peaceful river valleys and open farmland to the edges of our towns.

To help guide smart and sustainable planning, South Norfolk Council has asked The Landscape Partnership to carry out a Landscape Susceptibility Study. This study explores how different types of energy projects can be thoughtfully integrated into the local environment, while preserving the area’s unique character.

This document is intended to ensure future developments are well-suited to their surroundings and align with both national and local planning policies. This study will support the Council in making informed decisions that balance progress with protection, ensuring South Norfolk remains a beautiful place to live, work, and visit.

Where an area has been identified as highly susceptible, we would not be in favour of development.

In accordance with the relevant regulations the Council have produced a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitats Regulations assessment (HRA) Screening Report to accompany the draft SPD.

An Equalities and Communities Impact Assessment can be found here for this draft SPD.

Go to the webpage – for other SPDs:

  • Food Hub SPD
  • Open Space SPD
  • Norwich Research Park Development Framework SPD
  • South Norfolk Place-Making Guide SPD
  • Norfolk County Council Parking Standard SPD

Advice notes and reference documents (do not have the weight of an SPD)

Your say on Local Government Reorganisation

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LGR Survey – A4 PosterDownload

One reason that we did not have local elections in May was that a local government reorganisation is under way directly affecting Norfolk and Suffolk at Council and District Council levels. There are likely to be implications for Ward and Parish levels too. A number of options are being considered, but whatever happens decisions must be made to enable local authority elections to happen in May 2026.

SNC is running a public survey as an opportunity for residents, businesses and anyone else interested in giving their views about this Local Government Reorganisation.

You can find a link to the survey here: Your Voice, Your Future

For more information please contact Sinead Carey, Strategic Advisor & Deputy Monitoring Officer, South Norfolk Council

01508533661 sinead.carey@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

Norwich to Tilbury – May 2025 Project Update

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National Grid community relations team<mail@communications.nationalgrid.com>


We’ve now completed a series of targeted community consultations on potential changes to the project. We’d like to thank everybody that took part and provided feedback. We are now carefully reviewing all your consultation responses. These will help us to refine our proposals ahead of the submission of our Development Consent Order (DCO) application later this year. We will continue to keep you up to date with Norwich to Tilbury, and don’t forget you can still access all consultation materials via the Project website. We are continuing to engage with landowners as we finalise our plans for the project. Our land agents, Fisher German, will be in touch.
We’ve been carrying out assessments to understand if there is any buried archaeology where we are proposing to carry out work. This work includes geophysical surveys to create maps of subsurface archaeological features and trial trenching in some locations.  We’ll be carrying out further surveys over the next six months. The surveys involve digging a series of trenches roughly 20 metres long and 1.8 metres wide at carefully selected sites. Each trench will be assessed by our survey team for any potential buried archaeology and inspected and signed off by representatives from the relevant local authority before being filled back in.

We will notify parish councils and publish more information on our project website to keep local communities informed, and we will work to minimise any disruption as we carry out these important studies.

We are starting to prepare our application for development consent. This will include our Consultation Report which will set out how we have considered the feedback from the summer 2024 statutory consultation along with our targeted consultations. Once submitted, the Planning Inspectorate has up to 28 days to decide whether or not the application meets the standards required to be accepted for examination. If accepted, it will go through a six-month examination period. The Planning Inspectorate will then prepare a report on the application along with their recommendation for the Secretary of State to consider. The Secretary of State has up to three months to make a decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent. The whole process is expected to take around 18 months.You can find out more on our Project website.

Consultation – National Grid – Norwich to Tilbury

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Targeted consultations on proposed changes to Norwich to Tilbury – Thursday 30 January until Monday 3 March 2025

From April to July 2024, we held a public consultation, inviting local communities to share their views on our proposals. This period of formally consulting the public is called a ‘statutory consultation’ because it is required by the Planning Act 2008 for major infrastructure projects which need to apply for a type of planning consent called a Development Consent Order (DCO). You can find out more on our project website (nationalgrid.com/norwich-to-tilbury)

We are grateful for the feedback we have received from residents and community representatives across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. Following our public consultation, we have carefully reviewed all the feedback, and we have identified some locations where we could, potentially, make some changes to the proposals. 

Before we make any decisions, we are going back to consult with those people living near these proposed changes. We have a duty to develop the most appropriate proposal, taking account of feedback from local people and their representatives – including parish councils – alongside all the environmental and technical assessments.  

We are phasing the consultations starting with locations in Norfolk and Suffolk from Thursday 30 January until Monday 3 March 2025 and will follow up next month with locations in Essex and Thurrock. This is a non-statutory consultation – i.e. we are not required by the Planning Act to undertake this activity but we are keen to hear your views about the proposals. While these are local, targeted non-statutory consultations anyone can take part, and we have published all materials on our project website. 

Public webinars

To give everyone an opportunity to ask the project team questions, we’re holding three webinars via Microsoft Teams.  

You can sign up for a webinar on our website – nationalgrid.com/norwich-to-tilbury

  • Norfolk – 11 February 2025 at 6:00 pm 
  • Norfolk and Suffolk – 12 February 2025 at 12 noon 
  • Suffolk – 13 February 2025 at 6:00 pm 

Feedback

Feedback can be provided via our usual channels, by: 

Sending us an email: contact@n-t.nationalgrid.com  

Writing to us (no stamp required) at: FREEPOST N TO T 

Our online feedback questionnaire at: nationalgrid.com/norwich-to-tilbury

We also have a freephone project information line open Monday to Friday between 9 am and 5:30 pm: 0800 915 2497  

We will review all the feedback we receive and carefully consider it as we refine our proposals ahead of the submission of our application for a DCO later this year. 

If you would like further information or a briefing on the targeted consultations, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Yours faithfully    

Simon Pepper 

Project Director   

The Farthings Drop-in, 20th January 2025

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Thanks to Hughie, Mick, Sue, Liz, Mike, Karen and Jean at the village hall today. They set up (and took down) the Farthings’ documentation; served tea, coffee & bisuits; explained the presentations; and answered questions from those who dropped by.

The Drop In was an opportunity for villagers to examine all the documentation in one place and to see the definition of The Farthings at the point of transfer to community ownership. We have come a long way but the negotiations are not yet complete. The documents on view form part of the S106 agreement (being drawn up by solicitors) which will be ratified by South Norfolk Council, FWP Ltd and Wreningham Parish Council. These will be discussed, agreed and finalised over the next few weeks.

Available for inspection at the Drop In were:

  • Specification for Community Owned Land
  • A large plan view of the site
  • A Rossi Long produced surface water management scheme
  • List of community projects
  • Commuted sum calculations (this is designed to cover the annual running costs of The Farthings)
  • Logo art work.

We thank the visitors for their interest in the project; for closely examining the documentation; for re-stating their support for the project; and for their intent to help out when the time comes for hands-on activity. Two District Councillors attended and were complimentary about depth and breadth of the work of the Working Group; they expect this to be a successful project; it has their support and they look forward to it developing into a well-loved Wreningham site in the years to come.

The Farthings tab in the main menu, will be updated with additional information as it comes available. If you wish to be included in the email list please contact wren.farthings@gmail.com.

South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan (VCHAP) – consultation

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The South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan (VCHAP) Regulation 19 Pre-submission Addendum will be published between 9am on Monday 12 August and 5pm on Monday 7 October 2024, in accordance with Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. Representations are invited on the legal compliance and soundness of the Plan. Any representations submitted must be received by South Norfolk Council within this timeframe.

The purpose of the VCHAP is to deliver growth that will support the vitality of the rural communities of South Norfolk. Following the Regulation 19 Publication in 2023 one of the proposed sites was no longer considered deliverable and another needed to be reduced in scale, which led to a shortfall in the overall target number of new homes (minimum of 1,200).

The proposed Addendum includes the additional and amended sites proposed for allocation within the VCHAP to address this shortfall. The document also includes a number of other focused changes to the proposed VCHAP. The published document only deals with the changes that are being proposed to the Regulation 19 VCHAP document that was published in 2023. 

The Addendum and supporting documents can be viewed at: www.southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk/vchap.

During the publication period, the proposed Addendum will be available to view at:

·       Online at –www.southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk/vchap

·       South Norfolk Council offices – The Horizon Centre, Broadland Business Park, Peachman Way, Norwich, NR7 0WF (open Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm)

·       The Octagon – Mere Street, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 4AH (open Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm)

·       Libraries in South Norfolk – visit the Norfolk County Council website for details of your local branch (www.norfolk.gov.uk/libraries-local-history-and-archives)

  • Millennium Library – The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich NR2 1AW (open Mon-Fri: 10am-7pm; Sat: 9am-5pm; Sun: 10.30am-4.30pm)

Supporting documents are also available to view online at the above locations. Further information and background material will also be available through a ‘virtual exhibition’ which can be accessed during the publication period at: https://vchap.exhibition.app.

Anyone wishing to submit a formal representation on the content of the plan may do so, in writing, and before 5.00pm on 7th October 2024. These can be submitted online, via the website listed above or using one of our hard copy representation forms which are available at the locations listed above. This will help ensure that submitted representations are in the prescribed format and can be taken into account in the examination of the plan. Completed hard copy forms should be posted to the South Norfolk Council office address listed above.

For further information and enquiries, please contact the Council’s Place Shaping Team on (01508) 533805 or at localplan.snc@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk.