A vision for a new 6,500-home village with direct access onto the A11 has been floated as three councils look to shape the future of the county.

Broadland, Norwich City and South Norfolk councils have recently re-opened consultation into the next Greater Norwich Local Plan, having received some 200 further suggestions for potential developments.

A Local Plan sets out a local authority's planning policies and identifies places where development can take place.

Among these, is the suggestion Park Farm, a 340 hectare parcel of land in Silfield near Wymondham, could site a new garden village with 6,500 homes.

The proposal comes from landowner James Alston alongside planning consultancy Harvey and Co and is the largest site in the latest round of submissions.

Mr Alston said: 'This is an exciting opportunity to comprehensively plan a large, mixed-use and well-connected site on the A11 corridor.'

David Harvey, director of Harvey and Co, added: 'The proposal is in response to a few things. There is increasing central government support for garden town and village proposals and a large number of houses are still needed to be found.

'This site we feel has merits as it is in a sustainable location close to the A11, on the Cambridge to Norwich corridor and also in good proximity to Spooner Row and Wymondham train stations.'

Mr Harvey added that larger proposals can be beneficial as amenities and services would be planned in.

He added: 'What is key with proposals like this is they can allow much more comprehensive planning to take place, as its services can be planned at the same time.'

Mr Harvey said the proposals had been discussed with more than one potential development partner who could take the lead on an eventual planning application.

A total of 202 new sites have been put forward for the latest phase of local plan consultations - 10 in Norwich, 122 in South Norfolk and 70 in Broadland.

These are on top of 562 already put forward at an earlier stage of the plan, which seeks to establish where a further 7,200 homes can be built in the Greater Norwich area.

A consultation is running until Wednesday, December 14 and can be contributed to online, via www.gnlp.org.uk