I OBJECT to this development because it is OUTSIDE the Village settlement boundary and is sited within 200 metres from the Broads Authority administrative area and within the 3000-meter buffer-zone that protects the fringes of the SAC, SPA, SSSI, Ramsar and National Nature Reserve designations.

Further development here will dramatically affect the townscape and do NOTHING to PROTECT the fragile environment, nor recognise the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside and support the thriving rural community within Rockland St Mary.

The road is already unsafe for vulnerable road users; the last thing needed is more motor vehicle traffic. This development is a back-field site that is not in keeping with the linear nature of the village and should not be permitted and it is not in the village settlement boundary.

Further entrances onto the street would further add to the already chaotic and dangerous street scene. There are very limited amenities in the village, for example, the Doctors Surgery is only open part time, so any further load would likely still be covered by the larger practice in Poringland as it is already on the days that the surgery is closed. This already adds more motor vehicle traffic to the road system as people travel to Poringland for appointments when the local surgery is closed. Poringland also could do without the extra burden of additional traffic and the pollution this brings. There is no public transport service direct to Poringland.

It should also be noted that not all of the community use Rockland St Mary Surgery and travel further afield to the practice in Loddon and beyond so any additional houses built in the village will just add to extra traffic on these minor roads.


The burden of more traffic on the roads making their way through Bramerton, Kirby Bedon, Bixley and across the A146 to Poringland will be to the detriment of those communities as well. A representative from the organisation "Tour de Broads", the region's biggest not-for-profit cycling event, stated that some people responsible for delivering "Bikeability" (the old Cycling Proficiency Scheme) classes to local Primary Schools were actively saying to children that the safest way to avoid danger cycling was simply "not to Cycle".

IF we are serious about promoting sustainable transport and getting the population more active and reduce motor vehicle usage and the associated pollution and harm to our environment and making our communities safer for vulnerable road users, then these developments in Rockland St Mary should not be permitted.