Boundary decision for Thetford, Swaffham and Attleborough due

THE decision on whether or not to reclassify village boundaries around Thetford, Swaffham and Attleborough in a bid to control the spread of new housing will be taken at a meeting later this month.

THE decision on whether or not to reclassify village boundaries around Thetford, Swaffham and Attleborough in a bid to control the spread of new housing will be taken at a meeting later this month.

Breckland Council is undertaking a review of its planning policy and creating a blueprint called the local development framework (LDF) which will affect all future development until 2025.

As part of the review, local settlement boundaries will be discussed at a series of four meetings. The second of these, on December 11, will concentrate on the south of the county and take in rural areas including Didlington near Brandon, Mundford, Great Hockham and Shropham, to name just a few.

In a bid to protect Breckland's landscape, reduce carbon emissions, and limit rural isolation it will be recommended at the meeting that development be consolidated around existing towns and villages with key amenities.

In a report to Breckland Council's LDF Task and Finish Group, principal planning policy officer David Spencer and senior planning policy officer Phil Mileham, said settlement boundaries would be defined for rural communities where there were at least two key local services, for example, a food shop, post office, pub, doctor's surgery, primary school and good public transport links or employment opportunities.

'The purpose of the settlement boundaries is to consolidate development around existing built-up communities where there already a settlement and new homes would not be considered intrusive,' they said in the report.

Areas outside the boundaries will constitute countryside with development strictly controlled.

Six villages will be recommended to have their boundaries removed; Hilborough, Ickburgh, Ovington, Shropham, Stow Bedon and Wretham, while one, Great Hockham, will be recommended to retain its existing boundary.

Villages with amended boundaries could include Caston, Carbrooke, Croxton, Griston, Mundford, Thompson and Weeting.

Those with undefined areas are Cranwich, Didlington, Lynford, Merton, Stanford, Sturston and Tittington.

The preferred options will be reported to the council's cabinet and then become the subject of a six-week public consultation next year.

The review of the settlement boundaries around Swaffham, Attleborough and Thetford will take place at 9.30am on Friday, December 11 at Elizabeth House in Dereham.