We object to the approach to housing set out in the Delivery Statement in respect of the contingency locations for growth at Wymondham to offset any non-delivery of housing elsewhere, and in particular the sites selected as reasonable alternatives/contingency locations in those settlements.

A number of strategic extensions (for 1,500 dwellings) and garden villages (for 6,500 dwellings) have been identified as reasonable alternative housing allocations at Wymondham. A contingency approach of only 1,000 dwellings for Wymondham is proposed to offset non-delivery of housing allocations and commitments. It is clear that the scale of development anticipated in the proposed strategic extensions and garden villages are inconsistent with the contingency approach for only 1,000 dwellings. It is very unlikely that strategic extensions or garden villages would be delivered quickly enough to address a housing land supply shortfall in Wymondham 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. Therefore, it is considered that the reasonable alternative sites selected for the contingency approach at Wymondham i.e. the strategic extensions and garden villages are not deliverable as contingencies. In addition, as set out in the representations to the Site Allocations document, there are smaller sites in Wymondham that are deliverable and where constraints can be mitigated, which should have been identified as reasonable alternatives to meet the contingency approach e.g. land south of Gonville Hall Farm in Wymondham (Ref. GNLP0320).