In the latest South Norfolk Council newspaper ( LINK ) , not so affectionately known as the Bull**** Bugle , I was utterly astonished along with others in the village to read that SNC have won an outstanding award by the Housing and Finance Institute for their ability to work with local communities more especially with regard to infrastructure
Living in a village in South Norfolk where demonstrably there has been
• systematic over development because of a lack of 5 year land supply ( a 10 second search on Google will reveal issues with this)
• a policy of not appealing against developments because of the lack of a land supply and fear of losing (Gonville Hall development)
• a Policy of ignoring completely the maximum development permitted numbers as identified by an , in effect completely redundant local Plan
• a Stevie wonder eye turned to LACK of PRACTICAL infrastructure with already full schools, a train that stops twice in one direction and once going the other way at night ( yes its regular !!) with no buses anywhere in the village, with a patchwork of part completed footpaths despite being on a designated HGV route past the school
• and where time and again such issues have been raised and by the village and the Town Council ONLY to be ignored by South Norfolk, having been objected to.
All of which in my view is clear evidence of a clear and complete inability or unwillingness to work with their communities which you claim this award was based upon
May I respectfully suggest you review your award procedure because it makes your organisation look incompetent. Just how adequate and robust in your procedure to determine this award?
I assume no doubt the applications you looked at were carefully chosen by South Norfolk to achieve their desired outcome and accordingly, whilst I do not expect ,and I guess neither do you a perfect consultation process every time one has to say this has happened so often to us here in Spooner row and the whole of Wymondham, that I felt constrained to write to you to expose this hollow award for what it is. I can think of no example where the lack of infrastructure has caused a planning application to fail.
In that regard please refer to the first line of this letter.
Julian, I agree with your sentiments and no surprise that you felt compelled to write this letter to the HFI. It will be interesting to read their reply.
I disagree with the SNC claim made within its Link magazine, which said; "....we have demonstrated our commitment for controlled, planned growth and to work with our communities to ensure that infrastructure is in place when it is needed." In Spooner Row all the opposite of this claim has been demonstrated. Clearly, SNC was selective of which key development sites were assessed by the HFI.
Also written within this piece is; "....with notable strengths including the political commitment to driving forward housing delivery..." and "....that government shows the interest in South Norfolk that it deserves". From this, it appears that local house building is more about party politics than the needs and wants of South Norfolk communities such at S.Row.
In the circumstances, there can be nothing to be impressed about with this 'outstanding' award.
