SAHAM TONEY NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN 2018-2036 The Plan's Vision To preserve and enhance Saham Toney s distinct and tranquil rural character whilst ensuring village life is peaceful and fulfilling for all residents. This will be achieved through a process of gradual, small-scale developments in appropriate and sustainable locations, spread over the plan period, and by protecting the area's richness of landscape, history, wildlife and community 1
TO STOP ALL DEVELOPMENT TO DECIDE WHAT TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT SHOULD HAPPEN AND WHERE TO REWRITE THE BRECKLAND LOCAL PLAN TO MAKE CLEAR HOW LOCAL PLAN POLICIES WILL APPLY IN SAHAM TO KEEP SAHAM TONEY EXACTLY AS IT IS NOW TO SAFEGUARD ALL THE THINGS WE VALUE ABOUT SAHAM TONEY TO SOLVE THE VILLAGE'S PROBLEMS AT A STROKE TO PROMOTE HOUSES THAT LOCAL PEOPLE CAN AFFORD TO WARD OFF EVER-INCREASING PRESSURES FROM SPECULATIVE DEVELOPERS 2
WHAT DOES THE BRECKLAND LOCAL PLAN SAY ABOUT SAHAM TONEY? TOGETHER WITH 16 OTHER VILLAGES, WE'RE ALLOCATED A SHARE OF 150 NEW HOUSES BETWEEN NOW AND 2036 WITH AN UPPER LIMIT OF 5% BASED ON THE NUMBER OF HOUSES THERE ALREADY ARE IN THE PARISH THE LOCAL PLAN IS NOT APPROVED YET,NOR IS IT LIKELY TO BE TILL AT LEAST THE END OF THIS YEAR SO WE'VE TRIED TO MAKE OUR PLAN AS INDEPENDENT AS POSSIBLE FROM BRECKLAND'S BUT WE MIGHT STILL HAVE TO MAKE CHANGES IF THEY DO 3
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN SETS POLICIES TO ACHIEVE ITS AIMS THESE MUST BE ADHERED TO BY DEVELOPERS MAKING APPLICATIONS, AND PLANNERS WHO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT THEM POLICIES CAN DEFINE WHAT TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT IS AND IS NOT ACCEPTABLE POLICIES CANNOT LIMIT THE NUMBER OF NEW HOUSES TO LESS THAN THAT DEFINED IN THE LOCAL PLAN 4
WE HAVE 13 POLICIES HOW MANY HOUSES? DESIGN OF HOUSES DESIGN OF NON - RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS LOCAL GREEN SPACES LOCATION & SCALE OF SITES COMMUNITY FACILITIES STRATEGIC GAP TO WATTON COMMUNAL VIEWS FLOOD RISK WHAT TYPE OF HOUSES? BUSINESS AND TOURISM RELATED HERITAGE ASSETS TREES, HEDGES, BIODIVERSITY & HABITATS 5
EACH POLICY HAS AN ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENT WHICH GIVES EVIDENCE THAT WE BELIEVE JUSTIFIES THE REQUIREMENTS SET OUT IN THE POLICIES. YOU CAN READ THIS EVIDENCE TODAY, OR AT YOUR LEISURE ONLINE AT WWW.STNP2036.ORG THERE ARE ALSO THREE OTHER DOCUMENTS SUPPORTING THE PLAN: THE SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT WHICH AIMS TO SHOW THE PLAN IS SUSTAINABLE, AS REQUIRED BY THE REGULATIONS; THE HERITAGE ASSET REGISTER WHICH COMPLEMENTS POLICY 6; and SAHAM TONEY'S KEY DEVELOPMENT CONSTRAINTS KEY DEVELOPMENT CONSTRAINTS WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN DECIDING PLANNING APPLICATIONS IN THE PARISH. THEY FALL INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: Landscape setting and character; Availability and accessibility of services and facilities; Housing need; Roads and public transport; Flood risk; Availability of suitable land for development. 6
How Many Houses? Policy 1 says there may be between 19 and 48 new homes in Saham Toney between 2018 and 2036, but only if constraints on development, most importantly the availability of services and facilities; roads and public transport; protection of the landscape; flood risk and the availability of suitable land, are not violated. How many new homes would there be if we don't have a Neighbourhood Plan? Breckland Council's Local Plan is very unclear about this and only says: Not less than an unspecified share of 150 new homes; and Not more than (any number within the settlement boundary) + (about 35 adjacent to the settlement boundary) + (any number in the remainder of the Parish) = NO-ONE CAN SAY HOW MANY!!! Our evidence for Policy 1 explains how we decided on a range from 19 to 48 7
Where Will The Houses Be and On What Scale? Policy 2A says either inside or immediately adjacent to the settlement boundary sites must be limited to 5 houses (or 10 if it's a brownfield site)... but even then, only if there's also real community benefit, especially provision of smaller, affordable homes and villagers are consulted first for anything that's proposed outside the boundary 8
What Type of Houses? Policy 2B specifies a housing mix based on an assessment of local housing needs. Generally smaller, 1 and 2 bedrooms starter homes, social and affordable housing, and homes to suit older people To establish local housing need we first looked at Saham Toney's demographics, including residents' age range and the size of existing houses: 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% Age 0 to 17 Age 18 to 29 Age 30 to 44 Saham Toney Percentages Age 45 to 64 Age 65 to 74 Breckland Percentages Age 75 and over 9
60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Zero bedrooms 1 bed dwelling 2 bed dwelling SAHAM TONEY PERCENTAGES 3 bed dwelling 4 bed dwelling BRECKLAND PERCENTAGES 5+ bed dwelling As you can see from the charts we have greater proportions of older residents, and of 3, 4 and 5 bed houses than Breckland. We also looked at data from Breckland's Council's housing list and survey results from 8 local estate agents. As with the demographic charts, both told us the greatest need is for 1 and 2 bed homes that are more affordable, and so our policy stresses that those should be given priority. We are not trying to rule out larger homes, simply to ensure greater attention and priority is given to the housing needs of parishioners than has been the case in recent years. Did you know? Only 4 one bed and 10 two bed homes have been built in Saham Toney since 2011. If you want to see all the details please read volume 4 of our evidence. 10
What Sort of Design? See Policy 3 for houses and 4C for other buildings - they say: Housing density to match what's there now and not more than 20 per hectare; Design and materials to blend in; Decent sized gardens; Good landscaping; Street lighting only if it doesn't spoil our dark skies Safe access to / from main roads Community Facilities Policy 4A protects: the WCCC; St George's Church; The Methodist Chapel; the sports & social club; Broom Hall Hotel; The Old Bell Inn; Penny's Tearoom and Lowe's Caravan Park Does the Plan Support Building for Business or Tourism? Yes. Policy 4B sets out to do that in a way that protects the countryside, keeps things to an appropriate scale, respects neighbouring properties and doesn't lead to congestion on our roads Design of Buildings for Business or Tourism Policy 4C sets out criteria for the design of new business premises so that they blend in with the rest of the village 11
Will Saham merge with Watton? NO! Policy 5 prevents that by defining a "strategic gap" - land which is not for development and so avoids us being absorbed by Watton. See the enlarged maps in our evidence for details of precisely where the gap is. 3 12
Can we protect our historic buildings? We certainly can! Policy 6 does that. Apart from 11 listed buildings that are already subject to national planning regulations, we've safeguarded the view and setting of another 9 that meet criteria specified by Historic England. Some examples are shown here POLICY MAP 3: SAHAM TONEY HERITAGE ASSETS: BUILDINGS See the Saham Toney Heritage Asset register for more details Designated heritage asset Non-designated heritage asset Parish boundary 13
Local Green Spaces By designating the 6 areas shown on the map as local green spaces in Policy 7A, they will get special protection under planning rules GS1: The parish sports field GS2: The Wells-Cole Community Centre park land GS3: Saham Mere and the immediately surrounding open land GS4: St George's churchyard and cemetery GS5: The village allotments GS6: The bird sanctuary 14
Can the Plan protect the best views in the Parish? Yes! Policy 7B defines 111 views of the countryside around us, and prevents development that would adversely affect or detract from them. Please tell us if you agree with our chosen views in the online questionnaire 1 2 3 4 5 6a 6b 7 8 Parish Boundary Scale 1:25000 9 Protected view Background map source: Ordnance Survey POLICY MAP 6A: PROTECTED COMMUNAL VIEWS 10 15
What About Wildlife? Policy 7C is there to protect the most important trees and hedges, wildlife habitats and the "corridors" that animals use to move around the area. Tell us please, if you know of more than our map shows Wildlife corridor Parish Boundary Tawny owls Breeding buzzards Barn Owls Great Crested Newts Water fowl 16
Can the Plan stop our flooding problems? In truth it can't solve the existing problems. But Policy 8 has measures to stop new developments making them worse and prevent building on the sites most at risk Map T8: Surface Water Flood Risk in the Neighbourhood Area 17
PARISH ACTION POINTS The Plan also includes Parish action points which are intended to address issues that do not relate directly to the development of land and therefore cannot be included in the policies, but which represent the aspirations of the Parish Council and residents to improve conditions in the Neighbourhood Area. These deal with things such as roads and traffic, pedestrian footpaths, public transport, access to healthcare, schools for local children and leisure facilities. You can read about the Parish action points in section 7 of the Plan 18
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK US. IF WE CAN'T ANSWER YOU TODAY, WE'LL TAKE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS AND GET BACK TO YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ATTENDING TODAY. WE HOPE YOU FOUND IT INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE. AND WE VERY MUCH HOPE YOU WILL LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK BY ANSWERING THE QUESTIONNAIRES AND FILLING OUT COMMENT FORMS. WWW.STNP2036.ORG IF YOU DO, YOU COULD WIN ONE OF THREE CASH PRIZES, TO BE DRAWN AT THE MAY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING. 19
THREATS TO OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN THE 5 YEAR LAND SUPPLY RULE There's a national planning rule that says if a district council hasn't enough land to meet demand for new homes for at least the next 5 years, planning applications should be accepted regardless of what a Local or Neighbourhood Plan says. Developers use this to try to build houses anywhere and everywhere in whatever numbers they want. So if there's a lack of housing land in Thetford for example they can try to use the rule to build more houses in Saham Toney than our Plan allows. We think that's plain wrong! Right now Breckland has a 4.6 year land supply and that should mean Plan requirements are still applicable but carry slightly less weight, rather than be totally ignored, but unfortunately planners don't always interpret it that way. The real answer is for Breckland Council to release enough land in the right places, and for the Government to tighten the rules so that we would only have to take more houses if enough land wasn't available for the planned number of new homes in Saham Toney specifically. 20
DELAY OR CHANGES TO THE BRECKLAND LOCAL PLAN We think the Breckland Local Plan is rather weak and too vague. It is already running a year late, and may be delayed further. After its independent examination this April / May it may have to change. If it changes we may have to amend some of our policies, as we have to confirm to the Local Plan. Waiting for the Local Plan to be completed may delay final submission and approval of our Plan. Or if we complete our Plan before the Local Plan is approved we risk some of our policies being over-ruled by the latter when it's finally published LACK OF VILLAGE FEEDBACK By coming today it's clear you're interested in the Neighbourhood Plan and want a say in the future of the village. Please follow up your interest by letting us have your comments as they will help strengthen the Plan. The more people who do that the easier it is for us ensure the Plan truly represents villagers' wishes. Conversely if no-one comments that may weaken our Plan in the eyes of the Breckland planners and the independent examiner who must finally approve it. WWW.STNP2036.ORG 21