Location not sustainable
The 'main road' is a single track road, with few passing places, and has no street lighting. It is not possible to walk to the school safely (1.5 miles away). I do not know of anyone living on The Heath who walks their children to school, as the road is not safe. There is no footpath and there is farm traffic and lorries accessing local businesses. This is in addition to an increasing number of cars cutting between the A140 and B1149.

The single track road is in poor condition and could not cope with further traffic generated by this development. There are no local facilities and everyone drives to Aylsham to access the facilities there. The nearest bus stop is in the main part of the village, which is 2 miles away, even further than the school.

Therefore, this development would be contrary to the District Council's own policy that higher density development should be located in centres on public transport routes. The development would not reduce the need to travel by car, as there is no public transport, footpaths or cycle network in place. It would increase vehicle traffic.

The water/sewerage, electricity network, and broadband could not cope with this number of additional houses, they are at capacity already. There is also no gas available, as stated in the submission.

Biodiversity
There would be a significant impact on the biodiversity of the area.

Dark Plantation is very close to the south of the site. Broadland District Council has designated Dark Plantation as a 'Locally Defined Area of Biodiversity/ Geodiversity importance'. This area has not been referred to in the submission. This is an important habitat for protected species such as bats and barn owls, which I regularly see in the area.

The site is also close to Buxton Heath, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation.

Any development close to these sensitive areas would have a significant detrimental impact on their ecology. This would be contrary to the core aims of local and national policy.

Form and Character
A development of this nature would be completely out of keeping with the form and character of the area. The Heath is characterised by low density, linear road frontage development. A development of 15 plus houses on this back land site would not accord with the characteristics of the area.

A development of this scale would require footpaths and street lighting and a junction/ access of a particular scale to accommodate the level of traffic that would be generated by such a development. The development would be a housing estate in the middle of the countryside resulting in an incongruous form of development, 'alien' to this part of Hevingham.

The development would be an imposition on local residents, who choose to live in this part of Hevingham due to the unspoilt, remote and rural character of the area. If residents wished to live on a housing estate of high-density development, with street lights, pavements and other urban paraphernalia then they would live in an already developed area such as Aylsham or Norwich.

The Heath and The Turn are characterised by individual dwellings of a mix of scale, styles and materials. A development of the scale proposed would not reflect such individuality, which makes up the character of the area.

Site Access
For a development of the scale proposed, Norfolk County Council Highway Authority will require a certain width of road into the site, and that will also mean they will require a junction of a particular size, to include appropriate visibility splays in both directions. However, it is questionable as to whether appropriate levels of visibility could be achieved on land in the ownership of the developer, given the limited width of the road frontage of the site.

It is therefore not considered that appropriate visibility splays could be achieved for the level of development proposed.