Plans for a new community of up to 5,000 homes to the north of Norwich have been revealed – and people are being urged to help shape the detailed plans in Broadland stretching from Sprowston to Old Catton between Wroxham Road and Cromer Road.

London-based developers Beyond Green are working with a consortium of landowners including the Beeston Estate, the Morley Agricultural Foun-dation, the Alderman Norman Foun-dation and Norfolk County Council on a 25-year blueprint which would see the creation of a new community covering 200 hectares located in the parishes of Sprowston, Beeston St Andrew, Old Catton and Spixworth.

From next week Beyond Green is holding a series of events to give people a chance to have a say on what a new community could look like.

No detailed plans have been drawn up, but Beyond Green said they were looking to other European cities such as Copenhagen for inspiration to create communities which are not overly reliant on cars and can fit in sustainably with the rest of the city.

And they insist it could be done in a way that creates proper communities with their own high streets, and even a country park, in a way that does not swamp the countryside with identikit homes or require the building of the northern bypass (NDR), but can enhance existing roads and infrastructure.

Young people will also be given the chance to design their own community as part of the consultation exercise at an event at Open in Bank Plain next Saturday.

Beyond Green are not the first group to try and get the public to have their say on growth plans in the Norwich – a similar exercise was tried out last year to encourage residents to get involved in shaping proposals for more than 600 homes at the proposed Belmore Park development in Thorpe St Andrew.

And with plans for more than 30,000 new homes in and around Norwich over the next 30 years many fear that the character of the city and surrounding countryside could be destroyed.

But Jonathan Smales, executive chairman of Beyond Green, insisted the latest proposals would follow a different approach where the community will have their say before a detailed planning blueprint is drawn up.

'We want to get people thinking at this early stage in our process about how development might be done differently,' Mr Smales said.

'We have all been disappointed by development that has been delivered in the last 50 years.

'It is time to start making real places again – communities with shops, schools, green spaces and places of work, where people want to walk and cycle to get around and where there is real contact between people.

Stephen Heard, chairman of Stop Norwich Urbanisation (Snub), said while the campaign group did not endorse the proposals, it had been impressed with Beyond Green's approach.