The topics included within the Vision and Objectives for GNLP are generally supported. However, it is considered that the objectives related to homes and delivery would not be achieved in full because in some instances inappropriate sites have been selected as preferred options or reasonable alternatives.

For example, a number of strategic extensions (for 1,500 dwellings) and garden villages (for 6,500 dwellings) have been identified as reasonable alternatives for housing allocations at Wymondham. These sites are inconsistent with the preferred development strategy in GNLP, which identifies a contingency approach of only 1,000 dwellings for Wymondham to offset non-delivery. It is very unlikely that strategic extensions or garden village would be delivered quickly enough to address a housing land supply shortfall in the short term. The lead-in times for these types of developments are typically more than 5 years, largely because they are complex and require significant levels of primary infrastructure to be provided e.g. roads and drainage in advance of housing. It is also typical that strategic extensions and new settlements are unable to provide policy compliant levels of affordable housing during the initial phases because of the costs of providing primary infrastructure. Therefore, it is considered that the strategic extensions and garden villages identified as reasonable alternatives for housing allocations at Wymondham would not meet the mixed housing tenure aim of the homes objective or meet the housing needs aim of the delivery objective. As set out in the representations to the GNLP Site Allocations document for the Wymondham sites, there are constraints at the strategic extensions and garden villages sites which indicate that they should not have been identified as reasonable alternatives, and should not have been identified in preference to smaller sites which can be delivered more easily and where constraints can be mitigated e.g. land south of Gonville Hall Farm in Wymondham (Ref. GNLP0320).