GNLP2009

Felthorpe suffers greatly with roads that are too narrow and badly maintained. The above suggested houses are not supported by doctors, shops, school. We are very badly affected here by traffic and adding 15/20 houses and possibly 2/3 cars per house will negatively affect residents that are already here. We hoped the NDR would help with easing the traffic problems through the Village of Felthorpe, but unfortunately this has not happened and it has got worse. Putting more houses here will make things worse. Taverham Road, The Street and Church Lane and Brands Lane/Bilney Lane cannot take more traffic. The demands of the Village are not being met i.e. doctors, shops etc. and to add more houses before soughting out infrastructure i.e. roads and doctors/shops etc. would be madness. The Village is being used as a "rat run" and putting more houses on the already struggling roads is not acceptable.

Although I understand the need for more housing around Norwich, I would object to this development. One of my main objections would be the amount of traffic that would be using the adjoining road. In and around Felthorpe there is a huge amount of traffic using it and all roads adjoining the village. There are HGV's causing safety concerns when they travel through the village and the general traffic drives too fast. It is very dangeroud to try and cross any of the roads on foot. If these houses were to contain families which is likely, I think there would be concerns for children using the footpaths etc around the village.

Felthorpe is a small rural village with no shops, no schools or doctors, just a pub. With the only major employer going in liquidation and 2 buses available only in the morning, per day, having a car is fundamental. Even though the NDR was built we still have over 4000cars pass through our village roads a day. The proposed site access is via to the current field gate, which is up a bank from a blind bend on a narrow country lane. Swannington Lane is too narrow to be able to put a footpath, therefore makes it very difficult for pedestrians to access the few village facilities. Even more so, there is no street lights and because Felthorpe has no mains gas, it is frequented by many LPG/oil bowsers including large timber lorries which usually exceed the 30mph limit. Development of this site would only add traffic and create a new collision hotspot at the entrance to the site, besides increasing the one at the village entrance (the narrow Yew Tree bends on Taverham Road) which often experience minor collisions, most of which go unreported.
Electricity supply is via overhead wires and in the last two months alone I experienced 4 power cuts. Despite provided with the Fibre Unlimited broadband with average download speed of 36mb/s, on a good day I only hit 11mbs/s but on average it is much lower due to poor quality connection with several interruptions. Village waste water capacity is already insufficient, frequently overwhelming the pumping station and depositing sewage on the lawn of a property at the end of Chapel Lane. Without significant improvements to site drainage, it seems probable that parts of this site would also be at risk of surface water flooding or would aggravate problems at 22 & 24 Taverham Road who already experienced a flood on 23rd Jun 2016. The behaviour of local deer population will be affected, often these are seen on this site as it adjoins a large woodland plantation, where wildlife can move freely in and out of the nearby county wildlife sites.
Giving all the reasons above, Felthorpe should not be considered for development growth, considering significant mitigation works is required to make this site attractive to the market. There are other sites submitted in this plan that already have the facilities required and therefore make them more viable.

Roads are too narrow.
Volume of traffic will increase further.
There is already too much traffic through our village used as a rat run to avoid driving through Horsford to use the Broadland Northway
No infrastructure in village ie school, shops etc
Can GNLP investigate all brown field sites potential in the GNLP area before inviting potential destruction of Felthorpe and rural villages.

Felthorpe is a small village with no infrastructure - the roads are poor with tiny pavements, no street lighting. We have no school, doctors, or any shop. The roads are struggling at the moment with traffic which we hoped Broadland Northway would stop (and hasn't). Any development in Felthorpe is a huge mistake by the planners as it will make an intolerable situation worse by adding further housing and no infrastructure or greatly improving the roads so that lorries and other traffic bypass us. Adding further dwellings is not right for here.

There is no infrastructure in the village to support more houses ie: there is no shop, school etc. Volume of traffic would increase further. Felthorpe is used as a 'rat run' for motorists who avoid driving through Horsford to get onto the Broadland Northway. Perhaps the GNLP could investigate brown field sites in the area before inviting potential destruction of Felthorpe and our surrounding rural villages.

There is a drainage issue around this site, particularly in the dip of the road by the 30mph speed limit whenever it rains, in addition properties on Taverham Road are subject to water problems as the road water in heavy rain runs off Taverham Road, down into their drives and into there back gardens that in turn drain into the proposed development site.
We are already subject to sewage problems for properties situated of Chapel lane, when again due to rain raw sewage drains into their gardens.
The road mentioned above that leads into the woods is used by many HGV's it is narrow and on a bend and hill with high sided banks and totally unsuitable for additional vehicles of any development at this location. There are no footpaths for residents on this stretch of road.
There are no facilities within the village, shops, childrens clubs and a v ery poor bus service.

Regarding the sites suggested for development in the parish of Felthorpe, Felthorpe Parish Council has the following comments to make:

General

Felthorpe Parish Council does not believe that Felthorpe is suitable for growth due to its lack of facilities. The village has no shop, no gas supply, no street lighting, narrow, uneven pavements, minimal employment and only two buses per day into Norwich. We believe that the majority of our parishioners support this view and enjoy a quieter, rural life.

The village already suffers from significant rat-running with peak hours traffic exceeding safe capacity of the narrow roads. Adding more traffic from a additional housing would add to these problems. Given the significant over-supply of land included in this consultation, we request that the many more suitable sites with better facilities are selected ahead of those in Felthorpe.

Brands Lane
The council agrees with the suitability assessment that the Brands Lane site is unsuitable for development due to its lack of access to facilities. We request that this site is not progressed further and is excluded from the Greater Norwich Plan.

Swannington Lane
While the council agrees with most of the suitability assessment for the Swannington Lane site, we believe that the Market Attractiveness criteria should be rated as red. It seems unlikely that a site with so few facilities would attract the required 10% premium for rural fringe sites. Mitigation for the other six amber criteria, including site access, local road network, waste water infrastructure and surface water flooding would be costly, rendering this site economically unviable. We therefore request that this site is not progressed further and is excluded from the Greater Norwich Plan.

I oppose this site as both the village of Felthorpe and this site are both unsuitable for development.

Felthorpe has no gas supply or street lighting. Pavements are narrow and uneven so often unsuitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs. Electricity is supplied by overhead wires with several power cuts each year. Village water supply is imperfect also experiencing annual interruptions, including the most recent on 12/12/18. Waste water infrastructure is worse with pumping station being regularly overwhelmed, leading to sewerage frequently being deposited on the lawn of a property at the end of Chapel Lane whenever there is heavy rain.

The village has no shop and only two buses into Norwich each day. The nearest shops, primary schools and doctors are located at least two miles away in Taverham, Horsford or Drayton. Since site submission, the only major employer in the village, Thrower & Rutland, has been liquidated, leaving no significant employment within 2km. Services are highly unlikely to be improved with the addition of 15-20 houses.

The local road network is poor and largely too narrow too allow lorries to pass. This situation leads to HGVs frequently mounting pavements. The nearby junction of The Street and Taverham Road and the bends on Taverham Road by Yew Tree Farm are both minor accident hotspots with the most recent accident yesterday (13/12/18).

Felthorpe is routinely used as a rat run between Cromer or Holt Road and the Fakenham Road or the A47. Traffic surveys indicate that around 4500 vehicles per day pass through these unsuitable roads and accident blackspots. Peak time traffic already queues back along Taverham Road to Church Lane from the junction with The Street. Development within the village would only aggravate current traffic issues.

Given its poor infrastructure and limited access to services and is clear to me that Felthorpe is unsuitable for further development.

The site is also particularly unsuited to development due to issues around access, surface water flooding and environmental risks.

Proposed access is via current field gate, which is up a bank on a narrow, blind bend. Site access and surrounding road would need to be significantly improved at considerable cost to avoid creating a new accident blackspot. Pedestrian access to this site is currently via an unlit, narrow lane so a new footpath would also need to be provided at cost.

The governments flood risk website and the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment both show a risk of surface water flooding across this site. Local residents have experience that heavy rain leads to pooling water on Swannington Lane near the entrance to this site.

Torrential rain also leads to water running down Church Lane and Taverham Road with storm drains unable to cope. As a result, surface runoff runs like a stream through side passages of the lower lying properties on Taverham Road, which experience minor property flooding roughly every ten years. Building on this site would out either new properties at risk of flooding or increase risk to existing neighbours.

The surface water runoff runs directlty into the Swannington Update Common SSSI and then towards Alderford Common SSSI and the River Wensum SAC. Development of this site would require significant mitigation to avoid environmental risk.

Given the likely costs and land lost to improving access and mitigating risk of surface water flooding and environmental impact, I strongly believe that this site would be unviable unless producing high density housing out of keeping with the village.

Objection against the development Swannington Lane Felthorpe, site ref GNLP2009.

I object to the development because of all the following reasons.

I recently had an accident after crossing the road to check my mailbox, fell and hit my head. My carer called 999. When the paramedics arrived 4 or 5 hours later they were concerned about the traffic and declared it was unsafe to get me to the ambulance, They called the police and we had a further wait for one car to arrive and hold up the traffic so I could get to the waiting ambulance.
How can it be viable to build more houses and further increase the local traffic.

1. The Rat=running through Felthorpe on totally unsuitable class C roads is already intolerable to Felthorpe Residents. They report they cannot leave their homes safely.
2. More homes built anywhere in Felthorpe will increase traffic flows.
3. The NDR traffic flows have increased rat-running through the village.
4. There are no plans shown to alleviate the many hold-up, snarl ups etc on the Taverham road Yew Tree Bends. There is constant repairs required to mend the damage. A new mini bypass if included in the plans will help some of Taverham Road residents, but NOT the rest of the village.
5. There is only pedestrian access / egress from my 300 year old cottage and it is unsafe to leave or come home by foot. I was deliberate
ly injured by a car who thought I was the cause of a snarl up and was stationary before revving up the engine and turning the wheel towards me. My hand is still extremely painful.
6. there are no contiguous paths along Taverham Road and pedestrians are already unsafe, even before the new development. The Street, Felthorpe, is barely better.
7. There are no footpaths along the Bilney, Brands Lane and Church Lanes.
8. More building along these lanes or in Felthorpe will make it much more hazardous for pedestrians.
9. I cannot leave my home in safety.
10. Postal, medical and bin emptying deliveries are not available to me as unsafe to cross the Taverham Road.
11. There is no safe parking within half a mile of my gate.
12. The bungalows along Taverham Road even numbers will lose their tranquility, and the wood views will be destroyed.
13. Current services to the village are under strain, the impact of a new development will be immense. I have not had an adequate internet service for the last ten years. Further infrastructure will undermine things more.
14. The GDR has stopped traffic from accessing it via Horsford and that traffic comes through Felthorpe.

Please do not consider this development. Our Parish Council is against it.