Busy planning meeting could see 708 homes approved in Breckland

Six proposed developments in Watton, Swaffham, Attleborough and Dereham, totalling 708 dwellings, are among 17 items on the agenda for Breckland Council's planning committee meeting on May 31.

Among them are plans for 80 homes on Portal Road in Watton, 62 homes at Etling View in Dereham, and 165 homes on the old Grampian Foods site in Attleborough, which was deferred from April's meeting pending the completion of a legal agreement.

Also on the table are plans for 295 new homes in Swaffham – 130 off Sporle Road and 165 on land north of Norwich Road.

While some proposals have received hundreds of local objections, an application for 106 homes off Lancaster Avenue in Carbrooke has been welcomed by the community as the developers have also pledged to provide a much-needed community centre.

However, an application to amend the section 106 agreement for the former RAF Watton Radar site has not gone down as smoothly.

The proposal, which would see the handover of community land from developers Geraldeve delayed by a year, has been labelled by Watton Town Council as 'making a mockery' of the agreement.

Nigel Wilkin, chair of Breckland Council's planning committee, said the district did have a 'housing shortfall'.

'Many people are blaming the fact of us not having a plan as the reason for us having to look at these bigger applications, but the greater majority of these are ones we would not have objected to anyway.

'There are some parishes who accept and embrace change and use it to get what they can for their community – that's the best way to approach it.

'We do have problems with facilities, like our surgeries and schools, but quite often it is the pressure put on those facilities that enacts the changes,' he said.

Mr Wilkin also encouraged members of the public to attend the meeting.

Have you been affected by a housing development in your town or village? Email bethany.whymark@archant.co.uk.