Re: GNLP0604R Ben Burgess Ltd. Headquarters and GNLP0603R Ben Burgess 25 Houses off Church View
I have lived in the village of Swainsthorpe for 45 years and been involved at Parish Council, Charity Trust and Church Council level for the last 20 years or so. Never have I experienced so much opposition in our village to a planning application as we are experiencing with the Ben Burgess proposal to move their headquarters and retail/industrial business from Trowse to a greenfield site on the edge of our village.
I am fully aware that you are only consulting at this stage as you consider a Greater Norfolk Local Plan which will include Swainsthorpe in particular. All I personally ask is that in your consultation you are not swayed by the considerable resource the Ben Burgess organisation has at their disposal to present a plan that looks good on paper but in truth will change the beautiful landscape of Dunston and Swainsthorpe and the southern approaches to Norwich forever. The proposal will cause major disruption to an already busy Al 40 and disrupt a community which has offered peace and tranquillity to many ordinary people in their daily life for hundreds of years. It will also take a chunk of agricultural land, which has been farmed successfully for hundreds of years, off the market forever! How much more of the farmland purchased by Ben Burgess in Swainsthorpe will be put forward for development? The purchase of Malt House Farm was a speculative purchase by an organisation intent on making money by using cheap land for house building and industrial purposes. They will nibble away at the landscape around Dunston and Swainsthorpe and destroy this beautiful part of Norfolk unless they are stopped by having these two proposals turned down.
Re: GNLP0603R 25 Houses off Church View
South Norfolk Council's careful management of Swainsthorpe over recent years together with their current Structure Plan/Policy has enabled the village to maintain a rural feel which has been achieved by the community retaining attractive features such as ponds, a village green, a medieval church and a number of post medieval (161h/171h century) houses. As South Norfolk Council quite rightly have pointed out "Swainsthorpe is not suitable for further development because of the very narrow and substandard roads". The Ben Burgess proposal to build "low cost" housing with an entrance to the development on a very dangerous bend in the village should be turned down because it represents a hazard to driver and pedestrian and will destroy the rural feel of the village.
Re: GNLP0604R Ben Burgess Ltd. Headquarters
When you consider the Ben Burgess application to build their headquarters on the edge of Swainsthorpe I am sure you will ask yourselves, when you consult, why a retail/trade business of this magnitude needs to be located in beautiful countryside with no local amenities and no pathways to and from the village and the local bus stops.
My greatest concern is not only the "forever industrial" scenario which would be the case if it were approved but the fact that many vacant retail/trade industrial sites are available around the southern and new northern bye-passes of Norwich. Would you not be doing your duty by pointing this out to Ben Burgess because the northern bye-pass was built partly with industrial sites in mind? There would be an uproar if an industrial site suddenly appeared in the Swainsthorpe /Dunston countryside when numerous sites were available around the southern and northern bye-pass?
Finally, I do not know of many cases where a large industrial business catering for both trade and retail customers are built on isolated sites with access for vehicles only (no pedestrian access). Generally, and indeed quite rightly, they are located on industrial retail parks similar to Longwater where many other services are available to the visiting public with each business benefiting from the traffic flow these parks create. Surely these retail parks are much better policed and fire protected by their sheer scale and location?
There ar so many negatives associated with the Ben Burgess application and I am sure you will have these in mind when you consult on the Greater Norfolk Local Plan and the Ben Burgess application in particular.