Planning in Breckland

Housing Delivery in Market Towns and Local Service Centres

Dereham is expected to deliver 1,784 dwellings, Swaffham 1,553 dwellings and 1,636 dwellings in Watton over the Plan period. The growth of Local Service Centres in total equates to 14% of the overall housing growth in the Plan.

Housing Development Outside Settlement Boundaries in Local Service Centres

Development outside of the settlement boundaries of applicable Local Service Centres (Kenninghall, Litcham, Necton, North Elmham and Old Buckenham) is permitted where sufficient site allocations have not been identified or there are not sufficient completions and commitments to meet the settlement target, provided the development would not lead to the number of dwellings in the settlement significantly exceeding the housing target. Opportunities for self-build dwellings will be supported in accordance with national policy where they meet the criteria in the policy and other relevant development plan policies.

Housing Development in Villages with Settlement Boundaries

Additional homes from villages with settlement boundaries are to be delivered based on a 5% growth of each settlement. The 5% growth should be calculated from the number of dwellings in the settlement at the time of the adoption of the Plan, including any planning permissions up to 31 March 2018. Development adjacent to settlement boundaries is permitted as long as certain criteria are met. Opportunities for self-build dwellings will be supported in accordance with national policy.

Affordable Housing

Developments of 10 or more units (or exceeding a Gross Internal Area of 1000 square metres or the site has an area of 0.5 hectares or more) will be required to make provision for affordable dwellings. 25% of qualifying developments should be affordable units. Affordable rented housing should be provided on-site and be maintained as affordable housing through measures to secure the affordable housing and ensure it is available at an affordable price for future eligible households or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision. The size, mix, type and tenure of affordable homes will need to meet the identified housing need of Breckland as established in the SHMA, with a tenure split of 70% affordable rented to 30% shared ownership/intermediate products. Affordable housing should be distributed in single units or small clusters, with exceptions considered where it can be demonstrated that larger clusters are necessary for long term management or for viability reasons. Off-site contributions in lieu of built units on site will be considered where appropriate, with a commuted sum of £50,000 per equivalent whole dwelling for off-site provision. The policy will use the definition of affordable housing set out in the Framework.

Rural Exception Sites

Proposed schemes on affordable housing exception sites should provide for affordable housing, with some element of market housing acceptable if it can be demonstrated that such provision is essential to ensure the delivery of the affordable units. Where there is an identified need for specialist housing, schemes will be encouraged to provide an element of specialist housing.