The discussion Proposed New Houses for Spooner Row has moved away from the original topic of the specific plans for a development proposed by J. Alston so here's a new post for the related topic where we have led ourselves. (So it's worth a peek at the last few posts of that.)
It has come to the attention of some of us that South Norfolk Council has re-defined Spooner Row as far as the Wymondham Area Action Plan is concerned. It seems that despite legally being part of Cromwells ward within Wymondham Town, they have designated us as a Service Village for the purposes of the Greater Norwich Development Plan; and therefore subject to different rules for new housing allocation.
As a Service Village, the number and details of new houses would not be decided until later than for Wymondham.
To quote from the Policy document:--
Service Villages are defined based on having a good level of services/facilities. The services considered to be the most important, but in no particular order, are: • primary school • food shop • journey to work public transport service (to Norwich, a Main Town, Key Service Centre, or a comparable centre outside the plan area) • village hall Most of the Service Villages have 3 or all 4 of these available within the identified settlement along with a range of other services.
Well, we have only 2 out of 4, a school & a village hall, so perhaps someone from SNDC could re-visit their list of Service Villages.
Perhaps an opportunity to talk about it will come on Tuesday 29th 7:00 pm in Wrenningham Village Hall where SNDC are organising a "Meet your Community Reps and Councillors" evening (see poster on the Village Hall notice board).
From what I can make out from the above web link (JCS Document) is that there is some sort of hierarchy of Service Villages – I don’t understand how they have worked it out! It seems that some Service Villages may get a few new houses but some may get a lot. The JCS Document says on page 79 para 6.65, "In exceptional circumstances, a larger scale of development may be permitted where it would bring local facilities up to the level of those in a Service Village, and is acceptable having regard to other policies in this Joint Core Strategy, or a relevant subordinate Development Plan Document". Well I hope Spooner Row doesn't get categorised as this type of Service Village being that we are now considered under the Norwich Policy Area and not part of the Wymondham Action Plan – when did this happen and why have we not been consulted on this change? I have heard that they are still looking to find somewhere to put 1800 new homes.
We have each contacted Anita Regan, a Planner at SNDC and asked about this. Apparently Spooner Row was designated a Service Village in 2008. (Well I can't remember being told.) It means, apparently, that in our allocation quota of 10 to 20 houses between now and year 2026 we can count any that have been built since 2008.
Below, verbatim, is a copy of Anita's email reply.
Diana Hckaday & John Turner, WTC Councillors for Cromwells ward.
Spooner Row was designated as a Service Village and Suton was designated a Smaller Rural Community in the Joint Core Strategy (JCS). The approach in the JCS is 'place-centred' which means that settlements were defined and these played a more important role than parish boundaries. Spooner Row and Suton are still contained within the parish of Wymondham - this has not changed. However regarding the distribution of housing (and other) growth, Spooner Row is considered as a Service Village and Suton is considered as a Smaller Rural community, rather than as suburbs or satellites of Wymondham. This decision was based on the features of individual settlements (number and type of services within the settlement, communications with and geographical proximity to larger service centres, etc).
As for who made the decision, the GNDP board consisted of elected representatives of the constituent districts, i.e. elected Members of South Norfolk Council made the decision. This happened over a period of years, following extensive consultation and research studies.
In terms of not being aware of this, the JCS was developed over a period of years, and there were numerous public consultations during 2008, 2009, 2010. Information about the emerging JCS was covered in our district magazine (The Link), there were displays in libraries and consultation events in public places (libraries, community centres, supermarket car parks, etc). Within this timeframe, Parish Councils (PCs) were directly consulted and then kept fully informed about emerging JCS policies. For example, text and maps were sent to PCs to be included in their parish newsletters, flyers/posters were sent to be displayed on parish noticeboards, officers attended PC meetings, etc. South Norfolk Council have since had two public consultations on potential development sites, in 2010 and 2011, with parish councils being encouraged to participate. More recently, PC councillors attended a workshop about the Wymondham Area Action Plan where the status of Spooner Row, in particular, was made absolutely clear.
The final outcome is that Spooner Row was designated as a Service Village within the Norwich Policy Area (NPA). As such, it is expected to receive allocations of land to provide 10-20 homes to 2026, with the potential for a contribution towards the 'floating' NPA figure (this floating figure will be allocated according to the settlement hierarchy, i.e. the majority is expected to go to Norwich fringe parishes, then Key Service Centres, then Service Villages). Suton is designated as a Smaller Rural Community within the NPA. As such, it will not receive an allocation of housing.
Public responses to our consultations have suggested that local people would like to have more employment opportunities to the south of Wymondham. Therefore, it is possible that the employment area in Suton could be developed on a small scale. Since Suton will not be considered for housing growth, this employment development is going to be considered within the context of the Wymondham Area Action Plan. IF it is decided to allocate additional employment land here, it will be of a scale suited to the existing development.
Allocations in the Service Villages will provide small-scale housing growth to meet a range of local needs including affordable housing. It is envisaged that allocations will be within the range of 10-20 dwellings in each Service Village. Detailed analysis of form,character and servicing constraints may result in smaller allocations in some villages. Alternatively 20 dwellings may be exceeded where a specific site is identified which can
So, if I've read this correctly, it appears that the allocation could be less than 10.
We could be getting less than 10 houses but what proportion of the additional 'floating' NPA housing will we be allocated as a Norwich Service Village? - there are 1800 new houses looking for somewhere to go. And when were we informed that we were part of the Norwich Development Plan? We have to date been treated within Wymondham's Action Plan for development.
