(i) How long has the Council been in discussion with Nurton Developments with regard to the proposed development at Norton Heath?
(ii) How many landowners have signed up to the proposed development?
(iii) Can the Norton Heath development be removed from the Local Plan given the misinformation that is being circulated?
Response from Councillor Crooks:
“(i) The Council is currently consulting on its Regulation 18 draft Local Plan consultation. As the name suggests, this is a draft document for consultation purposes and is at an early stage of the Local Plan process. The site was submitted to the Council for the first time as part of the 2024 Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA). This is available to view on the Council’s website.
This site was presented to members in a planning policy meeting held via MS Teams earlier this year and the developer recently offered a presentation to all councillors on their proposals. It is a shame Cllr Sutton was unable to attend either of these.
As Cllr Sutton will be aware, the concept of delivering housing growth in the west of the borough is not new. Back in 2017 the administration he was part of proposed new “garden villages” as a way of providing the housing that the government required.
The Conservative leader at the time said “one option that is being considered to deliver this growth is the creation of garden villages. I personally believe this option to be of great value and if we can create more villages with an appropriate level of infrastructure we can deliver some fantastic new places to live, rather than destroying the ones that we already have.”
(ii) The site has been submitted to the Council by Nurton Developments Ltd, not by any landowners. Any agreements between landowners and Nurton Developments are not a matter for the Council. The Council welcomes any correspondence from any landowners if they do not consider their land to be available for development. Any received will be investigated. Some of the site has previously been put forward to the Council for development through the SHELAA process prior to any involvement from Nurton Developments.
(iii) No. The current consultation is for the Regulation 18 draft Local Plan only. The Council welcomes representations on the Local Plan. This site is one of many proposed sites at this Regulation 18 stage and is proposed in order to meet a nationally set housing target of over 15,000 dwellings to 2045. The Council will provide further statements and a further FAQ page on its website to provide a response to current misinformation circulating outside of the formal council statements.
I remind Cllr Sutton that the Conservative group voted in favour of proceeding with the Local Plan – with this site in it.
Should this site be removed at the next stage then I must remind Cllr Sutton and everyone else that the shortfall will need to be found elsewhere in the borough. I look forward to hearing from Cllr Sutton as to where he thinks these should go.”
Minutes:
(i) How long has the Council been in discussion with Nurton Developments with regard to the proposed development at Norton Heath?
(ii) How many landowners have signed up to the proposed development?
(iii) Can the Norton Heath development be removed from the Local Plan given the misinformation that is being circulated?
Response from Councillor Crooks:
“(i) The Council is currently consulting on its Regulation 18 draft Local Plan consultation. As the name suggests, this is a draft document for consultation purposes and is at an early stage of the Local Plan process. The site was submitted to the Council for the first time as part of the 2024 Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA). This is available to view on the Council’s website.
This site was presented to members in a planning policy meeting held via MS Teams earlier this year and the developer recently offered a presentation to all councillors on their proposals. It is a shame Cllr Sutton was unable to attend either of these.
As Cllr Sutton will be aware, the concept of delivering housing growth in the west of the borough is not new. Back in 2017 the administration he was part of proposed new “garden villages” as a way of providing the housing that the government required.
The Conservative leader at the time said “one option that is being considered to deliver this growth is the creation of garden villages. I personally believe this option to be of great value and if we can create more villages with an appropriate level of infrastructure we can deliver some fantastic new places to live, rather than destroying the ones that we already have.”
(ii) The site has been submitted to the Council by Nurton Developments Ltd, not by any landowners. Any agreements between landowners and Nurton Developments are not a matter for the Council. The Council welcomes any correspondence from any landowners if they do not consider their land to be available for development. Any received will be investigated. Some of the site has previously been put forward to the Council for development through the SHELAA process prior to any involvement from Nurton Developments.
(iii) No. The current consultation is for the Regulation 18 draft Local Plan only. The Council welcomes representations on the Local Plan. This site is one of many proposed sites at this Regulation 18 stage and is proposed in order to meet a nationally set housing target of over 15,000 dwellings to 2045. The Council will provide further statements and a further FAQ page on its website to provide a response to current misinformation circulating outside of the formal council statements.
I remind Cllr Sutton that the Conservative group voted in favour of proceeding with the Local Plan – with this site in it.
Should this site be removed at the next stage then I must remind Cllr Sutton and everyone else that the shortfall will need to be found elsewhere in the borough. I look forward to hearing from Cllr Sutton as to where he thinks these should go.”