Public meeting about house-building proposals in Hethersett. Resident Norma McEwen surveys the plans.
Villagers’ anger over homes plans for Hethersett
Chris Hill
Sunday, December 4, 2011
7:05 PM
Villagers in Hethersett have voiced their anger at proposals to expand their community by building almost 1,200 homes on greenfield land.
The public were invited to a drop-in meeting on Saturday to survey and comment on the outline application, which has been submitted to South Norfolk Council by Hethersett Land and Landowners.
Feedback forms were collected and residents were asked to place a flag in a map to show where they lived.
Half-way through the four-hour session, more than 150 flags had been planted in the map, and opinions had been collected from almost every area of the village, south of Norwich.
All the information will be collated by Hethersett Parish Council before it makes its formal response to the proposals.
Parish council chairman John Nightingale said: “What we are doing is trying to get an unbiased opinion. We don’t want to be accused of prejudice or nimbyism.
“We are trying to maintain an open stance and follow what the village wants. Development will happen, there’s no question – it is just a question how, when and to what quality.”
Norma McEwen, 64, from St John’s Close, said: “I am overwhelmed by the scale. I am overwhelmed by the density. “I am concerned, like most people, of the fact we can only get a doctor’s appointment six weeks in advance as it is, so what will happen when we have all these new people? I cannot even think about what the traffic might be like and how children might get to school.
“We moved here from north Norwich 25 years ago and we knew it was expanding, but it was still a village and that’s what we wanted. Now we are approaching a time when it looks like we may have to move again.”
55-year-old builder Alan Jeffries moved to New Road 12 years ago. He said: “I am disgusted. It is going to nearly double the size of the village and I don’t think we have the infrastructure to support that.
“New Road will become an arterial road. I have already lost six cats which have been killed on that road and this will just make the situation worse.
“If I wanted to live in a town I would have moved to a town. We accept the need for some new housing, but this is just ridiculous.”
David Smedmor, 60, from Glengarry Close, said: “It is just a sprawl and it seems to have taken in Little Melton, which would lose its identity completely. It is just too much – I’m still trying to take it all in.”
The development plans also contain community facilities including a primary school, shops, business units, an extension to the Thickthorn Park and Ride site and a new dedicated slip road from the A11.
The proposals pre-empt the conclusion of South Norfolk’s Local Development Framework (LDF), through which the district council will allocate sites for more than 9,000 new homes in the district during the next 15 years.
Hethersett is earmarked for 1,000 new homes in the Joint Core Strategy adopted by the Greater Norwich Development Partnership (GNDP).
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9 comments
Good luck to Hethersett as they continue to fight these proposals. Why on earth do we 'need' another 36,000 houses in the Norwich area over the next 15 years? Unfortunately, the real reasons behind this expansion may not just be providing homes for deserving families. There are huge amounts of money to be made - for landowners, for homebuilders (who find big greenfield developments much more profitable than resourceful brownfield infill) and for councils (who receive payments for each new home from the Community Infrastructure Levy). We must wake up to the political and financial pressures that are REALLY driving obscene greenfield expansion of this kind.
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Trevor Ashwin
Monday, December 5, 2011
Nobody wants Development near where they live, but these homes have to go somewhere, so why not Hethersett ? They have escaped expansion so far. In past few years where I live to the NE of the city we have had two new housing estates built and face the building of the NDR in the future. Moaing does no good, just have to make the best of it.
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norfolko
Monday, December 5, 2011
I do not live in the U K anymore, however I do have relatives who will be impacted by these moves. All I would ask is if there is infrastucture in place to accomodate this influx, and I think the answer to that is NO. As this seems to be a dormitory for London is there a good rail or road service, sometimes. Are there medical serviceshospitals, from what I am told there is not and the hospital is overcrowded now. Educational services, these seem to be a little stretched at this time, and I should want to see the primary school built before any houses are as well as the community centre. I would them ask if it is farm land that is being used and if so what happened to the "green belt" that was supposed to be round cities, towns and villages?? and Last but not least how many properties are vacant and for sale withing a 20 mile radius, if the number is approaching 1000 then permission should be REFUSED.
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canuk
Monday, December 5, 2011
The Joint Core Strategy is flawed. It allows building on Green field sites before Brownfield sites have been used and places restrictions on properties only allowing second home use, meaning that locals cannot live in such properties. It should be scrapped before we all lose the Norfolk we love to developers and rich second home owners.
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Homes4locals
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Albert, the Ballys site should be used for development which will bring jobs, it was an employment area before and should be again. As for new houses , they are needed and as long as the infrastucture is improved I dont see why anyone objects.
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Abraham
Sunday, December 4, 2011
The right homes need to be built in the right places - and these homes need to be affordable. It’s also critical that the new developments provide the necessary services and infrastructure. Yes there is a huge shortage of new homes, but the shortage is mainly made up social rented housing and not new private dwellings. These GDNP plans are badly flawed on many fronts and do very little other than benefit the developers and landowners at the expense of Norfolk people. Perhaps it is time the people of Norfolk stood up as one and made a concerted effort to try and thwart these ludicrous plans for once and all.
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John L Norton
Sunday, December 4, 2011
these villagers and everyone else is just going to have to put up with this kind of thing, there are millions and millions more people now living in this country and as we have no control over our borders within Europe the entire population of eastern europe and elsewhere can come and live here, so we must all get used to living in an overcrowded country where roads, railway, health service and land is overstretched, I notice the involvement of a UEA prof, in the campaign to stop expansion of Wymondham, well he moved here but now he and others want to stop others mostly less well off enjoying Norfolk life
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blister
Sunday, December 4, 2011
at least these villagers are angry.some i could name are so passive and slow.
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bookworm
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Build these houses in Norwich on the old Bally Shoe Factory site and not another Supermarket
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Albert Cooper
Sunday, December 4, 2011