New plans are being drawn up for 160 houses in a village already battling large-scale development proposals south of Norwich.

Letters have been delivered throughout Hethersett inviting residents to a public exhibition of the 'emerging scheme' being designed by Gladedale Estates.

Although no planning application has yet been submitted, the early drafts include about 160 homes, open spaces, car parking and landscaping on land north of Great Melton Road and west of Cedar Road.

The site, known locally as Water Tower Field, lies south of the unrelated proposals submitted last year by Hethersett Land Ltd for 1,196 homes, which have met with vociferous opposition from local campaigners.

Objectors said the application pre-empts the completion of South Norfolk Council's 'site specific' allocations for where predicted growth should be placed in the next 15 years. And the justification for the scale of the larger development was based on housing targets set within the Greater Norwich Development Partnership's Joint Core Strategy (JCS) – a document which a high court judge has since ruled to be flawed.

John Nightingale, chairman of Hethersett Parish Council, urged people to attend the exhibition and form their own opinions about the smaller Gladedale scheme.

He said: 'It is a simple fact of life that the village will have to grow and expand – it is a question of when, how, and at what rate. As a village of about 2,500 houses at the moment, I would think another 160 would be more tasteful than 1,100.

'But we can only make comments if we have people's opinions. I want to encourage as many people as possible to go to this meeting to give us the feedback we can use as ammunition, whether for or against.'

?The Gladedale proposals will be displayed at the Methodist Church Hall on Great Melton Road, from 2pm to 8pm on Thursday, March 8.

?For more on the judge's JCS ruling, see tomorrow's newspaper.