Public consultation Thursday (8th May) – 110 Saffron “affordable homes”

As some of you may have seen there is a public consultation this Thursday (8th May) for Saffron to build 110 “affordable homes” on the field that the public footpath runs along beside the Rugby Club. The consultation will be at Wymondham Library between 3pm and 7pm.

One question that we will be asking is why local residents have not been directly informed about this consultation. We certainly know of Beckets Grove Phase 2 residents who have not received anything.

As you may also be aware planning was refused on this site in 2020 and an appeal upheld by the planning inspectorate in 2021. However, Governmental changes to relax planning, reduce stalling on planning issues, and adjustments to the methodologies by which land supply and housing need is determined. This now means that the previous 5 year land supply for the area that was in place has changed. Greater Norwich, which includes South Norfolk, has been impacted by this change. “The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published in December 2024 sets out adjustments to the standard methodology for calculating housing need, which has led to an increase in the housing requirement for Greater Norwich”.

Previous Planning Inspectorate Appeal Refusal

The details from the planning inspectorate are on the document here. The main issues from the appeal were…

1. The effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the site and the surrounding area;
2. The effect of the proposal on hedgerows; and: –
3. Whether the site is a suitable location for housing, having regard to local policy for the provision of housing.

The third point forms most of the document’s detail which has now been detrimentally affected by the Government changes noted above. On the first two points the key takeaways are…

• Site sits clearly outside of the built up area of the town
• Would inevitably remove the openness of the field, blocking views to the open countryside to the east from the footpath
• The proposal would extend a dense urban sprawl north into the more open land
• Would significantly harm the open, tranquil, rural character and appearance of the site and the surrounding area
• Hedge removal affecting animal movement and also contributing to detrimental affect on area
• Was determined that hedge removal and affect on wildlife movement could be mediated for within the design for the scheme

Ultimately it was the housing need and land supply that predominantly supported the refusal.

Planning for this Scheme

Even though this proposal is now being put through a housing association, the same planning application rules remain in place. We would recommend anyone wanting to make their points known visit the consultation on Thursday or follow the website links from the image above once they become live.

Some key points for consideration…

• Further loss of the rural and natural environment experience enjoyed with outdoor recreational use of the Public footpath that runs the length of the proposed site. Footpath potentially encased between hedge and housing.
• Sewerage and drainage concerns. Elm Farm and Beckets Grove sewerage is still not fully adopted by Anglia Water. The systems are linked from Elm Farm to Beckets and onto Whispering Oaks. There have already been issues with the pumping stations and the lack of adoption by Anglia Water means it is not yet proven correct or suitable for the existing need, let alone another 110 properties feeding into it.
• Issues of neutrience and neutrality on the site –  ensuring that new development projects do not lead to a net increase in nutrient pollution in protected areas, particularly those with a high risk of nutrient-related damage.
• Further loss of wildlife habitat from the hedgerows around the site particularly affecting birds, bats, hedgehog and other animal populations that have already been substantially affected by development to the North East of Wymondham over the last 15-20 years.
• Further encroachment into the natural field habitats for wildlife particularly affecting areas used by bats, deer’s, birds and foxes. Local wildlife has already been impacted by development in this area.
• Provision of affordable homes, 110 homes planned on this site. Elm Farm has 299 plots of which a third are deemed affordable, 99 homes. Beckets Grove Phase 1 and 2 provided around 20% deemed affordable (135 houses) on the 673 plots developed. A total of 234 deemed affordable homes without considering Whispering Oaks, Oakwood Park and the Old Rugby Clubs site developments within a mile of this site which will have contributed more than 190 affordable homes between them. Then there are the other developments to the South of Wymondham and Hethersett.
• Local services have already been stretched by the development of Wymondham over the last 15-20 years. Schools, Doctors, and Dentist capacity have not increased at the same rate as the population of the town.
• Significant concern over surface drainage and water management issues already evident from the work on Elm Farm site. There have been issues facing developers of Elm Farm struggling to manage the water on thie site. Continued reliance of surrounding developments and historically unmaintained field ditches for drainage will risk future flooding issues. Landowner has recently made some
• A major concern is that developers will use the acceptance of planning on this site as a gateway to further development sites to the East of the Rugby Club running to and along Melton Road.
• Whether benefits of more homes, provision of construction work and increased trade for local businesses outweigh the detrimental effects of further development.
• Other sites – current request for EIA Scoping Opinion on planning for up to 650 dwellings going on to Land South of Norwich Common, an application that was previously withdrawn in 2023. Details here.

We’ll aim to keep you up to date on any other information.