Publication

The discrepancy between the GNLP and Diss Neighbourhood Plan allocations must be corrected prior to the GNLP being submitted for examination. This would be addressed by DIS3 being explicitly referenced as an existing allocated site that contributes to the committed housing supply for the purposes of the emerging GNLP and that it is only sites for the additional 250 homes that the Neighbourhood Plan is required to allocate.

If these changes are not made, then the approach to site allocations for Diss would fail the tests of being justified and effective. This is because DIS3 is currently counted towards the housing supply figure, and therefore the deliverability of the plan, but would be inadvertently deallocated resulting in the minimum identified level of development for Diss being less than that set out in Part 1 of the GNLP. The potential error is because Part 2 of the GNLP has taken an unjustified change in approach to Part 1 of the GNLP (and previous Regulation 18 consultation on the Part 2 Site Allocations) and appears to be expecting the Neighbourhood Plan to allocate DIS3 for housing while the Neighbourhood Plan is expecting the GNLP to allocate the site, as has been the accepted approach to date.

The Part 2 Sites document has been prepared to allocate additional sites to meet the housing requirement identified in Part 1 of the new local plan.

In respect of Diss, Part 1 of the Local Plan makes the following references throughout which should be noted:

• Page 39, Delivery Statement - Housing The plan promotes a pro-active approach to delivery through only allocating housing sites where a reasonable prospect of delivery, taking account of policy requirements in this plan, can be evidenced.

• Page 176, Housing Growth Needs - The existing commitment (Housing Commitment is sites which are allocated or have permission for housing development) of housing land at April 2020 is large and shapes the GNLP strategy. The existing allocations, including Site Allocation plans, Area Action Plans and Neighbourhood Plans, derive from the Joint Core Strategy (JCS). These allocations have been demonstrated to be sustainable and, except for later phases of some larger sites where delivery is unlikely before 2038, they are included in this strategy. This deliverable commitment, including uplift on existing allocations and homes delivered since the start of the plan period in April 2018, provides 74% of the total housing growth identified in this plan to 2038.

• Page 48 - Table 6 Establishing the Plan’s total housing potential figure - The existing commitment is the undelivered sites which are already allocated and/or permitted, with parts of or whole sites unlikely to be delivered by 2038 excluded. Uplifts on existing allocations are included here.

• Page 48 - Table 6 Establishing the Plan’s total housing potential figure – New allocations are the homes to be provided on new sites allocated through the GNLP (9,254), the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Sites Allocation Plan (1,200) and the Diss and area Neighbourhood Plan (250).

• Paragraph 267 - The NPPF states that the Government’s objective is to significantly boost the supply of homes. The GNLP addresses this through the housing strategy in policies 1 and 7 and the housing allocations in the Sites document.

• Paragraph 359, Diss - The existing commitment of just over 300 dwellings in April 2018 is complemented by a strategic requirement for an additional 400 homes set by this plan. 150 of these homes are allocated through this plan on a site neighbouring the railway station. Making use of consultation on potential sites undertaken through the GNLP, the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan will allocate land for the remaining 250 homes.

The above references set a number of key principles:

• Existing allocated sites for housing development within the adopted South Norfolk Local Plan Site Specific Allocations & Policies Document (adopted October 2015) are included within the new Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP) as commitments for the purpose of calculating the housing requirement.

• The new GNLP identifies that it will allocate new sites on top of these commitments to exceed the housing requirement thereby offering flexibility within the plan to significantly boost the supply of homes.

• The Part 1 Local Plan is clear that the identified level of growth for Diss (with part of Roydon) between 2018 – 2038 is 763 homes. The existing deliverable commitment for Diss is identified as 363 homes. This figure includes the existing site allocation for DIS3 in the adopted 2015 South Norfolk Site Allocations document.

• Taking into account the existing commitments, there is a need to allocate sites to accommodate 400 new homes.

• 150 of these homes are allocated through the GNLP on a site neighbouring the railway station.

• The final 250 homes are to be allocated through the emerging Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan.

If one then looks at the Part 2 - Publication Draft GNLP Sites Document and the section starting at Paragraph 4.13 in respect of Diss (including part of Roydon), the table at Paragraph 4.14 again identifies the existing local plan allocations which are to be carried over and in turn the need for sites to be found for an addition 250 homes through the emerging neighbourhood plan.

However, Paragraphs 4.20 – 4.22 have been drafted as follows:

• “Paragraph 4.20 - With the exception of one site, decisions on the allocation or reallocation of development land in Diss are devolved to the neighbourhood planning process. The proposed Diss & District Neighbourhood Plan is a cross boundary plan covering parishes located within both the South Norfolk and Mid-Suffolk districts. The parishes included in the production of the Neighbourhood Plan are: Brome and Oakley, Burston and Shimpling, Diss, Palgrave, Roydon, Scole and Stuston. Progress on the neighbourhood plan is good. During Summer 2020 an Issues and Options consultation took place, and in 2021 the Plan is timetabled to progress towards examination,

referendum, and (if successful) to eventually be ‘made’ and become part of the adopted Development Plan.

• Paragraph 4.21 - The one allocation to be made in Diss via the GNLP is the Frontier Agriculture site on Sandy Lane. This is an established business that has expressed its long-term ambition to relocate, most likely towards the end of the plan period. The brownfield status of the land along with its proximity to the town centre, railway station, and local bus routes, makes it an exceptional opportunity for higher density brownfield redevelopment. Such brownfield sites are prioritised in national planning policy to make effective use of land, particularly where they are well located in relation to public transport and within walking and cycling distance of a good range of employment, services and facilities.

• Paragraph 4.22 - In addition to existing commitments, a housing requirement of at least 400 new homes is set by the GNLP for the town of Diss, part of which is fulfilled by the allocation of Frontier Agriculture for 150 homes. The Diss & District Neighbourhood Plan will have to fulfil the remaining overall housing requirement, but otherwise has freedom within the statutory framework to makes its own choices. In addition to the strategic requirement for 400 new homes, there are three carried forward allocations providing for 122 new homes, 137 homes were delivered April 2018 to March 2020 and a total of 95 additional dwellings with planning permission of 754 homes between 2018-2038. (footnote 2 - For the purposes of calculating housing commitment it is assumed existing allocations from the South Norfolk Site Allocations DPD 2015 will be carried forward, but this is a matter for the
Neighbourhood Plan to decide upon This gives a total deliverable housing commitment for Diss (including part of Roydon).”

The above text appears to suggest that the commitments are not actually commitments and could be deallocated if that is what the Neighbourhood Plan chooses to do. This is despite Part 1 of the emerging GNLP clearly stating that the existing allocations are to be carried over thereby leaving the Diss Neighbourhood Plan to find sites for 250 homes only.

This change in approach has been introduced at a late stage in the plan making process and has led to significant confusion and concern not only for our client, but also the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan.

The background documents to the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan include the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan Site Options and Assessment (December 2020) prepared by Aecom which states:

Page 21

“GNLP Diss Draft Site Allocations Document

There are two sites identified as preferred options in Diss providing for 400 new homes. There are three carried forward allocations providing for 87 new homes and a total of 256 additional dwellings with planning permission. This gives a total deliverable housing commitment for Diss (including part of Roydon) of 743 homes between 2018 – 2038 in line with policy 7.2 above. The document then goes on to propose new site allocations at:

• GNLP0102 (Land at Frontier Agriculture Ltd, Sandy Lane, Diss)
• GNLP0250/0342/0119/0291 (land north of the Cemetery, west of Shelfanger Road and East
• of Heywood Road, Diss)
• DIS 1 Land north of Vince’s Road, Diss
• DIS 2 Land off Park Road, Diss
• DIS 3 Land off Denmark Lane, Roydon, Diss
• DIS 8 Land at Station Road/Nelson Road, Diss
• DIS 9 Land at Sandy Lane
and lists the following sites as reasonable alternatives, but states that these are not currently preferred for allocation:

• GNLP0341
• GNLP1045
However, the group have since informed AECOM that SNC have confirmed to them that they now agree for site GNLP1045 to be considered for residential use and therefore the site is now also available for development (it was previously marked as unavailable).
P121

Site is already allocated in Local Plan therefore not appropriate for allocation in Neighbourhood Plan.”

Further to the above, Williams Gallagher contacted Adam Banham (Greater Norwich Local Plan Team) and Mark Thompson (Collective Community Planning – Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan) to discuss the discrepancy between the emerging GNLP and Diss Neighbourhood Plan. Mr Banham and Mr Thompson both confirmed that the apparent change in approach to the inclusion of existing allocated sites in the current regulation 19 consultation document is not correct and would leave DIS3 unallocated in the GNLP by mistake, which is not the intention of either the GNLP or Diss Neighbourhood Plan.

The above clarification is helpful and also welcomed because Inside Land Group has commenced the preparation of a planning application in accordance with the existing DIS3 site allocation. This is in line with the approach to including existing site allocations within the housing supply as put forward during the Regulation 18 consultation and also Part 1 of the current GNLP Regulation 19 consultation. If the discrepancy within Part 2 on the GNLP is not addressed, the delivery of DIS3 could be undermined unnecessarily and would go against the NPPF requirement to significantly boost the supply of homes by potentially deallocating acceptable housing sites. This would be counterintuitive given that DIS3 has already been considered as suitable, available and viable for housing development.

The discrepancy between the GNLP and Diss Neighbourhood Plan allocations must be corrected prior to the GNLP being submitted for examination. This would be addressed by DIS3 being explicitly referenced as an existing allocated site that contributes to the committed housing supply for the purposes of the emerging GNLP and that it is only sites for the additional 250 homes that the Neighbourhood Plan is required to allocate.

If these changes are not made, then the approach to site allocations for Diss would fail the tests of being justified and effective. This is because DIS3 is currently counted towards the housing supply figure, and therefore the deliverability of the plan, but would be inadvertently deallocated resulting in the minimum identified level of development for Diss being less than that set out in Part 1 of the GNLP. The potential error is because Part 2 of the GNLP has taken an unjustified change in approach to Part 1 of the GNLP (and previous Regulation 18 consultation on the Part 2 Site Allocations) and appears to be expecting the Neighbourhood Plan to allocate DIS3 for housing while the Neighbourhood Plan is expecting the GNLP to allocate the site, as has been the accepted approach to date.

The discrepancy between the GNLP and Diss Neighbourhood Plan allocations must be corrected prior to the GNLP being submitted for examination. This would be addressed by DIS1 being explicitly referenced as an existing allocated site that contributes to the committed housing supply for the purposes of the emerging GNLP and that it is only sites for the additional 250 homes that the Neighbourhood Plan is required to allocate.

If these changes are not made, then the approach to site allocations for Diss would fail the tests of being justified and effective. This is because DIS1 is currently counted towards the housing supply figure, and therefore the deliverability of the plan, but would be inadvertently deallocated resulting in the minimum identified level of development for Diss being less than that set out in Part 1 of the GNLP. The potential error is because Part 2 of the GNLP has taken an unjustified change in approach to Part 1 of the GNLP (and previous Regulation 18 consultation on the Part 2 Site Allocations) and appears to be expecting the Neighbourhood Plan to allocate DIS1 for housing while the Neighbourhood Plan is expecting the GNLP to allocate the site, as has been the accepted approach to date.

The Part 2 Sites document has been prepared to allocate additional sites to meet the housing requirement identified in Part 1 of the new local plan.

In respect of Diss, Part 1 of the Local Plan makes the following references throughout which should be noted:

• Page 39, Delivery Statement - Housing The plan promotes a pro-active approach to delivery through only allocating housing sites where a reasonable prospect of delivery, taking account of policy requirements in this plan, can be evidenced.

• Page 176, Housing Growth Needs - The existing commitment (Housing Commitment is sites which are allocated or have permission for housing development) of housing land at April 2020 is large and shapes the GNLP strategy. The existing allocations, including Site Allocation plans, Area Action Plans and Neighbourhood Plans, derive from the Joint Core Strategy (JCS). These allocations have been demonstrated to be sustainable and, except for later phases of some larger sites where delivery is unlikely before 2038, they are included in this strategy. This deliverable commitment, including uplift on existing allocations and homes delivered since the start of the plan period in April 2018, provides 74% of the total housing growth identified in this plan to 2038.

• Page 48 - Table 6 Establishing the Plan’s total housing potential figure - The existing commitment is the undelivered sites which are already allocated and/or permitted, with parts of or whole sites unlikely to be delivered by 2038 excluded. Uplifts on existing allocations are included here.

• Page 48 - Table 6 Establishing the Plan’s total housing potential figure – New allocations are the homes to be provided on new sites allocated through the GNLP (9,254), the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Sites Allocation Plan (1,200) and the Diss and area Neighbourhood Plan (250).

• Paragraph 267 - The NPPF states that the Government’s objective is to significantly boost the supply of homes. The GNLP addresses this through the housing strategy in policies 1 and 7 and the housing allocations in the Sites document.

• Paragraph 359, Diss - The existing commitment of just over 300 dwellings in April 2018 is complemented by a strategic requirement for an additional 400 homes set by this plan. 150 of these homes are allocated through this plan on a site neighbouring the railway station. Making use of consultation on potential sites undertaken through the GNLP, the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan will allocate land for the remaining 250 homes.

The above references set a number of key principles:

• Existing allocated sites for housing development within the adopted South Norfolk Local Plan Site Specific Allocations & Policies Document (adopted October 2015) are included within the new Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP) as commitments for the purpose of calculating the housing requirement.

• The new GNLP identifies that it will allocate new sites on top of these commitments to exceed the housing requirement thereby offering flexibility within the plan to significantly boost the supply of homes.

• The Part 1 Local Plan is clear that the identified level of growth for Diss (with part of Roydon) between 2018 – 2038 is 763 homes. The existing deliverable commitment for Diss is identified as 363 homes. This figure includes the existing site allocation for DIS1 in the adopted 2015 South Norfolk Site Allocations document.

• Taking into account the existing commitments, there is a need to allocate sites to accommodate 400 new homes.

• 150 of these homes are allocated through the GNLP on a site neighbouring the railway station.

• The final 250 homes are to be allocated through the emerging Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan.

If one then looks at the Part 2 - Publication Draft GNLP Sites Document and the section starting at Paragraph 4.13 in respect of Diss (including part of Roydon), the table at Paragraph 4.14 again identifies the existing local plan allocations which are to be carried over and in turn the need for sites to be found for an addition 250 homes through the emerging neighbourhood plan.

However, Paragraphs 4.20 – 4.22 have been drafted as follows:

• “Paragraph 4.20 - With the exception of one site, decisions on the allocation or reallocation of development land in Diss are devolved to the neighbourhood planning process. The proposed Diss & District Neighbourhood Plan is a cross boundary plan covering parishes located within both the South Norfolk and Mid-Suffolk districts. The parishes included in the production of the Neighbourhood Plan are: Brome and Oakley, Burston and Shimpling, Diss, Palgrave, Roydon, Scole and Stuston. Progress on the neighbourhood plan is good. During Summer 2020 an Issues and Options consultation took place, and in 2021 the Plan is timetabled to progress towards examination,

referendum, and (if successful) to eventually be ‘made’ and become part of the adopted Development Plan.

• Paragraph 4.21 - The one allocation to be made in Diss via the GNLP is the Frontier Agriculture site on Sandy Lane. This is an established business that has expressed its long-term ambition to relocate, most likely towards the end of the plan period. The brownfield status of the land along with its proximity to the town centre, railway station, and local bus routes, makes it an exceptional opportunity for higher density brownfield redevelopment. Such brownfield sites are prioritised in national planning policy to make effective use of land, particularly where they are well located in relation to public transport and within walking and cycling distance of a good range of employment, services and facilities.

• Paragraph 4.22 - In addition to existing commitments, a housing requirement of at least 400 new homes is set by the GNLP for the town of Diss, part of which is fulfilled by the allocation of Frontier Agriculture for 150 homes. The Diss & District Neighbourhood Plan will have to fulfil the remaining overall housing requirement, but otherwise has freedom within the statutory framework to makes its own choices. In addition to the strategic requirement for 400 new homes, there are three carried forward allocations providing for 122 new homes, 137 homes were delivered April 2018 to March 2020 and a total of 95 additional dwellings with planning permission of 754 homes between 2018-2038. (footnote 2 - For the purposes of calculating housing commitment it is assumed existing allocations from the South Norfolk Site Allocations DPD 2015 will be carried forward, but this is a matter for the
Neighbourhood Plan to decide upon This gives a total deliverable housing commitment for Diss (including part of Roydon).”

The above text appears to suggest that the commitments are not actually commitments and could be deallocated if that is what the Neighbourhood Plan chooses to do. This is despite Part 1 of the emerging GNLP clearly stating that the existing allocations are to be carried over thereby leaving the Diss Neighbourhood Plan to find sites for 250 homes only.

This change in approach has been introduced at a late stage in the plan making process and has led to significant confusion and concern not only for our client, but also the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan.

The background documents to the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan include the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan Site Options and Assessment (December 2020) prepared by Aecom which states:

Page 21

“GNLP Diss Draft Site Allocations Document

There are two sites identified as preferred options in Diss providing for 400 new homes. There are three carried forward allocations providing for 87 new homes and a total of 256 additional dwellings with planning permission. This gives a total deliverable housing commitment for Diss (including part of Roydon) of 743 homes between 2018 – 2038 in line with policy 7.2 above. The document then goes on to propose new site allocations at:

• GNLP0102 (Land at Frontier Agriculture Ltd, Sandy Lane, Diss)
• GNLP0250/0342/0119/0291 (land north of the Cemetery, west of Shelfanger Road and East
• of Heywood Road, Diss)
• DIS 1 Land north of Vince’s Road, Diss
• DIS 2 Land off Park Road, Diss
• DIS 3 Land off Denmark Lane, Roydon, Diss
• DIS 8 Land at Station Road/Nelson Road, Diss
• DIS 9 Land at Sandy Lane
and lists the following sites as reasonable alternatives, but states that these are not currently preferred for allocation:

• GNLP0341
• GNLP1045
However, the group have since informed AECOM that SNC have confirmed to them that they now agree for site GNLP1045 to be considered for residential use and therefore the site is now also available for development (it was previously marked as unavailable).
P121

Site is already allocated in Local Plan therefore not appropriate for allocation in Neighbourhood Plan.”

Further to the above, Williams Gallagher contacted Adam Banham (Greater Norwich Local Plan Team) and Mark Thompson (Collective Community Planning – Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan) to discuss the discrepancy between the emerging GNLP and Diss Neighbourhood Plan. Mr Banham and Mr Thompson both confirmed that the apparent change in approach to the inclusion of existing allocated sites in the current regulation 19 consultation document is not correct and would leave DIS1 unallocated in the GNLP by mistake, which is not the intention of either the GNLP or Diss Neighbourhood Plan.

The above clarification is helpful and also welcomed because Inside Land Group has commenced the preparation of a planning application in accordance with the existing DIS1 site allocation. This is in line with the approach to including existing site allocations within the housing supply as put forward during the Regulation 18 consultation and also Part 1 of the current GNLP Regulation 19 consultation. If the discrepancy within Part 2 on the GNLP is not addressed, the delivery of DIS1 could be undermined unnecessarily and would go against the NPPF requirement to significantly boost the supply of homes by potentially deallocating acceptable housing sites. This would be counterintuitive given that DIS1 has already been considered as suitable, available and viable for housing development.

The discrepancy between the GNLP and Diss Neighbourhood Plan allocations must be corrected prior to the GNLP being submitted for examination. This would be addressed by DIS1 being explicitly referenced as an existing allocated site that contributes to the committed housing supply for the purposes of the emerging GNLP and that it is only sites for the additional 250 homes that the Neighbourhood Plan is required to allocate.

If these changes are not made, then the approach to site allocations for Diss would fail the tests of being justified and effective. This is because DIS1 is currently counted towards the housing supply figure, and therefore the deliverability of the plan, but would be inadvertently deallocated resulting in the minimum identified level of development for Diss being less than that set out in Part 1 of the GNLP. The potential error is because Part 2 of the GNLP has taken an unjustified change in approach to Part 1 of the GNLP (and previous Regulation 18 consultation on the Part 2 Site Allocations) and appears to be expecting the Neighbourhood Plan to allocate DIS1 for housing while the Neighbourhood Plan is expecting the GNLP to allocate the site, as has been the accepted approach to date.