Given the slow rate of delivery to date, it is likely that windfall will need to play an important role in delivering the required housing numbers to 2038. Paragraph 159 anticipates 3870 dwellings being delivered in the plan period to 2038 by windfall based upon previous trends. However, future trends could be very different in the absence of 5-year land supply sites and sites within the City Centre being identified as allocations in this plan rather than windfall.
Windfall will need to come forward in a range of settlements in the hierarchy and it is appropriate for more to come forward in the higher order settlements than in the lower tiers. Policy 7.4 deals with small scale windfall development being provided in village clusters. We consider that there is a need to ensure that this is small scale through identification of appropriate development boundaries, as these settlements are not the most sustainable in the hierarchy. The requirement that “the cumulative amount of windfall development permitted during the plan period should not have a negative impact on the character and scale of settlements in any village cluster in Broadland” should help to achieve this. However, why does this statement not refer to South Norfolk village clusters also? Or is a separate policy going to cover these?