'Absolute insanity' - Village' in massive backlash to homes plan
The homes would go up on the green field east of Rectory Road. The Bure Valley Railway can be seen running through the tree cover on the north of the field. - Credit: Google
A plan to bring 30 new homes to a Norfolk village has sparked objections from more than 60 local households concerned about traffic, hedgerow removals and stretched facilities.
The proposal for a development on land east of Rectory Road, just south of the Bure Valley Railway line, in Coltishall, will be discussed on Wednesday by Broadland District Council’s planning committee.
The council’s planning officers are recommending the scheme be approved - arguing that its benefits outweigh its harms - but the bid faces significant opposition from some 63 local households on a range of issues.
One villager wrote: “A further 30 houses on an already busy road is ridiculous.
“The site entrance is on a one way single track road which will be expected to service a potential 60 extra vehicles - working on two cars per household, a very conservative estimate.”
Another called the plan “absolute insanity” and said the village had “little or no unused educational or medical capacity”.
Coltishall Primary School said in an October 2020 objection that it was “concerned for the safety of children travelling to and from school”, due to the additional car movements.
The field on which the homes are planned to go up, pictured in April 2021. - Credit: Google
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Coltishall Parish Council has objected too - highlighting the road impacts, a loss of hedgerows and an opinion that the homes will be “out of character” on the village’s edge.
A highways officer from Norfolk County Council said that while they do not object in principle, several measures would need to be put in place to cope with the new development, including the widening of Rectory Road.
Objections have also been raised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and concerns about biodiversity have been submitted by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
Some 10 of the 30 homes are planned to be affordable.
A spokesman for Parker Planning Services, which is acting as agent to the developer, said the proposal included “highways improvements, such as traffic crossing and measures to slow speeds” as well as “generous landscape improvements and ecology enhancements”.
He said he “would also highlight that as the site is already allocated for 30 homes, that this development is ‘planned’ for in the council’s adopted plan and will help to meet the housing targets for the council”.
