Comment

Representation ID: 20362

Received: 27/02/2020

Respondent: Sworders

Number of people: 2

Paragraph 341 states that village clusters are based on primary school catchments, which provide a
proxy for social sustainability. It is accepted that primary school catchments can provide one measure
of social sustainability. However, to base the housing allocation for each village solely on a single
criterion such as the primary school catchments is, we believe, very limiting. The ability of a primary
school to accept children from new developments can only ever provide a snapshot in time of an
Draft reps to GNLP consultation Jan-Feb 2020 Page 3 of 7
ever-changing situation. The amount of housing allocated on the basis of this criterion alone also only
reflects the existing provision and does not take account of the potential of new housing to fund
growth and improvements to the schools, or to any other community facilities, and therefore
potentially stymies future growth and could contribute to a cycle of stagnation or decline.
Paragraph 83 of the NPPF states that:
‘Planning policies should enable …. The retention and development (my underlining) of accessible local
services and community facilities, such as local shops, meeting places, sports venues, open spaces,
cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship.’
We propose that the amount of housing allocated to village clusters is based on a much wider range
of criteria, including the existence and absence of community facilities and services, such as a village
shop, broadband connection, public house etc, and consideration of the role the village plays in
serving other smaller settlements.
As a case in point, despite there being seven distinct settlements within the grouped ‘Village Cluster’
of Great Witchingham, Lenwade, Weston Longville, Alderford, Attlebridge, Little Witchingham and
Morton on the Hill, as the school located within the cluster (Great Witchingham Primary Academy) is
located within Great Witchingham, this limits any housing allocations to Great Witchingham itself.
Consequently, this means the assessment precludes any housing allocations within any of the other
villages that comprise the cluster and, in this sense, the ‘Village Cluster’ concept is an ineffective
designation when determining housing allocations, resulting in limiting housing distribution rather
than ensuring it is distributed and shared across the ‘cluster’.