Object

Representation ID: 20425

Received: 06/03/2020

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 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, post office, provision of public transport services, and consideration of the role the village plays in serving other smaller settlements.
We note that paragraph 343 of the Plan states that:
‘A separate South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Site Allocations document will be produced. This plan will include sites for a minimum of 1,200 homes in addition to the 1,349 already committed in the village clusters to be identified in South Norfolk.’
We welcome the invitation to submit further sites through this consultation, set out in Policy 7.4, although we consider that the invitation to submit further sites should be made much more clearly on the consultation homepage.