Decisions due on plans to build more than 500 homes in expanding town

Yaxham Road in Dereham, where 255 homes could be built. Picture: Ian Clarke (Image: Archant)

A special meeting of Breckland's planning committee has been scheduled for today, which will run the rule over a trio of proposals to develop in Dereham - including one which has proved particularly controversial.

Hopkins Homes' scheme to build 255 homes off Yaxham Road and Dumpling Green, have hung over the town for close to a decade, having been deferred a number of times.

The most recent deferral came in June, when it was controversially fast-tracked to committee ahead of the end of its latest round of consultation. It was then pulled from the agenda of the following month's meeting.

However, the plans are back on the agenda next week, with an unchanged recommendation of approval from Capita, Breckland's outsourced planning department.

Much of the concern around the plans was around the impact on the town's roads network, with the committee calling on Norfolk County Council's highways department to attend and explain why it did not object to the scheme.

One transport consideration of the application will see Hopkins contribute £500,000 towards improving a weak bridge at Westfield Lane, which is hoped to help alleviate traffic elsewhere.

Meanwhile, another deferred application, which seeks to built up to 216 homes on land off Swanton Road.

The plans, from Mountleigh Dereham Ltd, were originally approved in July 2017. However, due to the length of time it has taken to put final agreements in place between the council and the developers, they have been returned to committee for reconsideration.

And the third application up for decision could see 62 homes built on land west of Etling View.

Pitched by Taylor Wimpey, these proposals were also approved in the past - back in May 2018 - but await the committee's rubber stamp after lengthy negotiations.

If all three schemes are approved it would see another 533 homes on the horizon for the ever-growing town, which has become a hotbed for development in recent years.