A family’s hopes of building their “forever home” in the Norfolk countryside are on hold thanks to new rules making planning permission temporarily impossible across much of the county.
Tristram Abbs, his wife Poppy and their two children are just one family among the thousands affected by new requirements, introduced under instruction from government advisor Natural England.
The measures are intended to help the Wensum river and Norfolk Broads become ‘nutrient neutral’, amid concerns over wastewater from new homes contributing to the problem of nutrients, like phosphates, entering the waterways.
Mr Abbs, who had been hoping for permission to build a home for his family to move into in Longham, near Dereham, said the rules' suddenness had left people in limbo.
“I know Natural England has no vested interest in housebuilding - they’re an environmental quango, and they do that job well,” he said.
“But unfortunately it was very short sighted of them, especially when this issue with the rivers has been the case for a long time and has required dealing with for a long time.”
He pointed out that similar rules had already been introduced some years ago around the Solent, in Hampshire, and that he “would have thought by now they’d have some kind of concept of how much of an impact it had on the construction industry”.
Mr Abbs, a carpenter who also converts camper vans, added: “That’s what I find so upsetting, because we as developers and self-builders are completely powerless to do anything.”
The three-bedroom home he hopes to build is on agricultural land previously used by his stepfather - and is just on the edge of the Wensum’s catchment area, meaning it is covered by the new rules.
Mr Abbs said he intended the home to be “as ecologically conscious as possible”, and for it to even generate its own electricity.
He added that he had calculated the development to be nutrient neutral, but that no ecologist was currently willing to produce a document for him evidencing this, in the absence of guidance from Breckland Council.
Like every other local authority affected, Breckland is still working to create a system which would allow them to issue planning permissions while meeting the new requirements.
Natural England says it has provided councils with the necessary guidance. Its chairman, Tony Juniper, said this week the rules were not about stopping development, but addressing a “very serious and very real pollution challenge”.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here