Plans for 52 new homes on a wedge of green land in Holt have been recommended for approval.

Hopkins Homes wants to build the new estate by demolishing the house at 67 Hempstead Road and having a new road branching off to the north of the road from that spot.

A council officers' report has been prepared ahead of a North Norfolk District Council meeting on Thursday, December 10.

The report, which councillors on the development committee are to consider, says the scheme should go ahead if Hopkins agrees to provide £346,500 in a Section 106 agreement, which would be put towards education, parks and other community facilities.

But not everyone want to see the estate, which would include 23 'affordable' homes, go ahead.

Eastern Daily Press: A plan of the proposed homes off Hempstead Road, Holt.A plan of the proposed homes off Hempstead Road, Holt. (Image: Hopkins Homes/Planning documents)

Norfolk Wildlife Trust said the site should be left as it was so it could serve as a buffer between the 200+ houses at the new Heath Farm estate to the east, and the 'county wildlife site' off Gravel Pit Lane to the west.

Holt Town Council has objected over road safety worries - saying it already got a lot of complaints about traffic in that part of town.

A letter sent from town clerk Gemma Harrison said: "Hempstead Road already suffers from traffic problems and this will further add to them. Councillors would like to see access to the site from the adjacent development site [Heath Farm] as previously suggested."

District councillors including Georgie Perry-Warnes, Sarah Butikofer and Duncan Baker, who is also North Norfolk's MP, have also raised concerns over how traffic from the site could be managed.

If the development went ahead, Section 106 cash would go towards areas including: £154,000 for education; £52,000 for parks and open space; £17,500 for Coasthopper and other bus improvements, and more than £17,000 so Holt Medical Practice can increase its capacity.

Hopkins Homes' design and access statement for the plans says: "An opportunity has been taken to provide a development which responds well to the specific circumstances of the locality, representing an excellent response to a site not required for its allocated employment use, which maximises the positive aspects of the site's location, fully integrating and actively enhancing the character and appearance of the surroundings in which it would sit."