Draft Greater Norwich Local Plan – Part 1 The Strategy

Comment

Representation ID: 22523

Received: 16/03/2020

Respondent: Broadland Green Party

Para 251: Support the general policy to facilitate self-build schemes but to also add support for self-build cooperative schemes to build affordable homes. There are very inspiring case studies of cooperative housing schemes that have multiple benefits :
• Pooling of resources & capital - stronger together.
• Community involvement with the process from finding a site to delivery.
• Design of homes to fit wants, needs and aspirations.
• Select build method & contractors.
• Significant cost savings - sometimes as much as 40%.
• The building of relationships with neighbours and the wider community.

Comment

Representation ID: 22524

Received: 16/03/2020

Respondent: Broadland Green Party

In the policy on homes there is no reference to quality of homes, energy efficiency and climate change. These are critical issues to the future build of homes in Norfolk given the general poor quality of homes adhering to just the basic standards of house building, if that, in some extreme cases.
On the issue of build quality, there appears to be a woeful lack of building control inspections to ensure at least the minimum of standards adhering to the Building Regulations. We suspect this is in part due to a combination of the privatisation of Building Control (CNC) and the reduction in funding to local authorities to carry out statutory responsibilities adequately, in this case that of building control inspections. This dire situation needs to be urgently rectified.
Back in 2008 the Climate Change Strategy for Norfolk signed by all seven district councils and the county council stated: ““Most of the houses and infrastructure that we build now will still be standing in 2080, when the impacts of climate change will be much greater. The considerable level of growth planned for the county by 2026 provides an immediate strategic opportunity to plan housing and infrastructure that will be much more resilient to the impacts of climate change. This will reduce long term risks to Norfolk residents and help avoid the potentially major expense of addressing problems at a later stage, after the impacts of climate change have been felt.”
All new housing must be carbon neutral or at least built to Passivhaus standards.

Comment

Representation ID: 22525

Received: 16/03/2020

Respondent: Broadland Green Party

There is a stated objective to protect our environment and habitats and create new green spaces. Where in the plan is there an initiative which achieves this? The insistence on “full dualling” of the A47 is in direct opposition to such an objective. As far as can be deduced from map 4 in section 2 most of the remaining “major habitat sites in Norfolk” will soon be flooded so where will these species be relocated to?

Growth and sustainability are different goals. We should be very wary of growth because at present a very large amount of the increased demand for housing comes from an influx of population from areas such as Kent and the Midlands. People are moving to Norfolk because the “developed” environments they have been living in now have high crime, very poor air quality, terrible traffic congestion, bleak town centres with failing businesses, a plague of loneliness and mental health issues and degraded countryside. Intelligent planning is required to enshrine the lovely quality of life we are able to enjoy in our relatively low population density county and not to enslave ourselves to “growth” with all the disadvantages it can bring.