I wish to put the following points in objection to the current Greater Norwich Development Plan regarding the further urban development of the village of Mulbarton. Whilst I recognise the need for further housing in Norfolk there are a number of issues pertaining to the further development of the village of Mulbarton in particular:
* Both proposed developments are very large and Mulbarton already acts as a service village to several smaller settlements which are being further developed for housing with no increase in the provision of services in Mulbarton.
* There is already the development of Oakley Park in Mulbarton some one hundred and eighty new dwellings which impact on the already stretched local services. It seems irresponsible to plan more housing while the full impact of the new homes is not yet experienced by the village. There is already the necessary disruption caused by a large building site which is accessed along a country lane and through the village.
* In the past the village has developed steadily not with impact of large scale developments which exceed its capacity. Services such as broadband are already lagging behind the demand in the village.
* Services such as education and medical provision are stretched in Mulbarton. With the increasingly aged population and the possible influx of young families in new housing these would be in danger of failing the village through lack of capacity. With the siting of the medical practice and the school there is no logical room for development of either.
* Local amenities such as retail, leisure and social would all be affected to the detriment of the villagers due to lack of capacity. The village's historic core would suffer both visually and with congestion.
* The economic impact of the village community will be poor. Developers funding in the past has been mainly spent outside the village and new promised amenities disappear with the final plan. As a dormitory settlement of Norwich most of the inhabitants "spend" will be in Norwich, especially as scarce local facilities become even more overused.
* Communication links and transport. The B1113 is already congested in the village and at the A140 junction more houses would increase this providing an unwarranted increase of pollution and road maintenance.
* Transport in the village is already congested with a large influx of parked cars from the outlying villages and serving the shop, school and medical facilities. Buses in particular find navigating the roads difficult.
* The significant impact on the ecological balance of the area including surface flooding on the heavy clay base the village is situated on. The report states that this would be hard to mitigate.
* These are greenfield sites where not all the brownfield sites in greater Norwich have been developed or are targeted at other use such as student accommodation rather than meeting local needs. Developers have also land banked sites which could be used sooner.
* The CPRE points of the need for actual strategic housing in the particular area, Mulbarton is also situated in the countryside with the green belt buffer between the village and urban Norwich this is being eroded reducing its economic and environmental benefits.
* Finally the residents of Mulbarton chose to live in a village community with a particular lifestyle and benefits due to its location and nature. If they wanted an urban lifestyle they would not reside here, they value the traditions, values and norms of the village which will be eroded and then destroyed with further largescale development.