Norfolk councillors want 6,000-home town to be ditched

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County councillors have agreed to call for controversial proposals for a new 6,000-home town in rural Norfolk to be abandoned - because they fear roads will not cope.

The area around Roudham and Larling, close to the A11 between Thetford and Attleborough, is among sites slated for inclusion in Breckland District Council's local plan.

That is a document setting out where new homes could be acceptable for construction over the next two decades, after Breckland invited suggestions for potential sites to help hit government housing targets.

Larling village (Image: Denise Bradley)

But County Hall highways officials have "significant" concerns about plans for almost 14,000 acres of land near Larling and Roudham, villages which currently only have about 120 houses between them.

It would form a new settlement on five sites where homes and employment land is proposed, including near the A11, Illington Road, the B1111 and Roudham Road.

The plan states at least 1,350 new homes could be built there by 2043, when the local plan would run to, with a further 4,650 new houses after that.

Inclusion in the local plan, which still needs to be adopted, does not mean schemes will go ahead, but it makes it more likely future planning permission bids would be granted.

With the draft plan out for consultation, the response to it from Reform-led Norfolk County Council - a consultee in the process - was agreed by members of the planning and highways delegation committee on Monday (September 7).

Highways officers had urged them to call for the Larling/Roudham settlement to be removed from the draft plan, saying "no evidence has been submitted to demonstrate the allocation can be successfully delivered".

Officers said the development, which would create a town the size of North Walsham, relied on just two access points, close to the A11, and that there was a lack of evidence to show the impact on other roads.

Council officers also had concerns about proposals for employment land at Moorfields, near Dereham, the development of Robertson Barracks, at Swanton Morley and expansions in Swaffham, Watton and Thetford.

Breckland District Council previously said increased government housing targets meant the council needed to build at least 16,560 new homes by 2043.

The consultation, which the public can join in with, runs until Wednesday, September 23, at https://breckland.govocal.com/en-GB/

After that, Breckland’s planners and elected members will consider comments before considering whether to submit the plan so the Planning Inspectorate can ‘examine’ it independently, which is expected to take place next year.

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