1. Keswick and Intwood Parish Council is strongly opposed to any change in the development boundary to accommodate this (or any other development) included in the list of sites relevant to the Parish.

2. The Parish's opposition to the proposal is backed by Policy 16 of the adopted Joint Core Strategy (JCS) for Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk which identifies Keswick as an "other village" with a defined development boundary allowing only the minimum of infill development to take place without adversely affecting the form and development of the village.

3. The existing development boundary is tightly drawn around the existing built up area along Low Road. The intention is to prevent any further development into the countryside and to protect any future development from the risk of flooding. Moreover, the site in question (which represents a very significant extension of the existing development boundary should it be agreed) has previously been rejected for these reasons.

4. Furthermore, because the site is so far outside the existing designated boundary, any development would be detached from the rest of the village and consequent poor connectivity. The Parish also believes Norfolk County Council Highways has possible concerns about traffic access to the site from the hazardous junction with Low Road and along the single track Mill Lane.

5. Any extension of the existing boundary to include this site would therefore necessitate a significant policy change not only to accommodate the radical redrawing of the boundary, but it would also be clearly damaging and contrary to the objective of retaining the rural nature of the area.

6. Additionally, the site falls within the "River Valley" landscape area which raises further material concerns regarding its suitability for development. Policy DM 4.5 of the South Norfolk Local Plan relates to the protection of Landscape Character and River Valleys stating that: "All development should respect, conserve, and where possible, enhance the landscape character of its immediate and wider environment. Development proposals that would cause significant adverse impact on the distinctive landscape characteristics of an area will be refused". The site also lies adjacent to the grounds of Keswick Old Hall being a Grade II listed building which would arguably be compromised by the development of new housing immediately to the east.

7. One of the eight Strategic Principles of the Site Specific Allocations and Policies Document of the South Norfolk Local Plan is "To avoid allocating land in Flood Zones 2 and 3 (SP4)". It is therefore a material consideration that part of the site falls within the Environment Agency's defined Flood Zones 2 and 3 indicating the highest probability of flooding. It would therefore be counter to both national and local policy to allow built development to take place on this site.

8. The Parish believes that the above considerations fully support its opposition to any future amendment of Keswick's development boundary to accommodate the inclusion of GNLPS L0012.