Local Plan Consultation: Frequently Asked Questions

The council is consulting on a First Draft Local Plan (Part 1).

We are also consulting on the Alternatives Considered in preparing the Plan, and a new Design Guide, Landscape Character Assessment and Landscape Sensitivity Assessment.

We are also undertaking a Call for Sites which seeks submissions of available land in a specific selection of villages in North Norfolk which could be considered for future development.

Other technical documents related to the sustainability of the First Draft Local Plan proposals are also available for comment. The Document Library contains all the consultation documents

All details are available on the Local Plan Consultation page.

All of the consultation documents, supporting documents and background papers can be found:

• by visiting our online Document Library
• at libraries in North Norfolk District and at Wroxham library in Broadland District
• at one of twelve drop-in events being held across the District. Further details can be found on our Local Plan Consultation page

Development is needed for a variety of reasons, including providing for:

• A growing and older population, smaller household sizes, addressing the shortage of affordable housing, areas of new open space, employment, infrastructure and new facilities.

Other factors affecting the availability of housing include:

• Second home ownership, vacant homes, use of homes for holiday accommodation.

Providing the homes that are needed will also require new schools, health facilities, shops and new job opportunities and these will need to be provided alongside housing developments.

The main towns of North Norfolk, plus the villages of Hoveton, Blakeney, Briston and Melton Constable, Ludham and Mundesley.

In a nutshell, the First Draft Local Plan includes draft planning policies to cover a wide variety of development scenarios which, following adoption of the Plan, will be used by the Council when making decisions on planning applications. It also identifies our preferred development sites for future housing, employment, new areas of open space, and other uses.

Yes. This Local Plan comes complete with a sister document known as the Alternatives Considered. This document details all of the policy and development site options which the Council has considered and eliminated from the Plan, and why.

This document is also available for consultation.

We have published a number of Background Papers and technical evidence documents which provide more detail on the approaches proposed in the Local Plan.

These can be viewed in the Document Library.

We have published a detailed Consultation Statement which is a comprehensive report setting out all engagement work undertaken to date in preparing the Draft Plan.

This document is also available in our Document Library.

Yes, we have prepared the draft Plan in consultation with a wide range of service and infrastructure providers such as the Education & Health Authorities, Anglian Water, Norfolk County Council Highways, and others.

We have published further details in Background Paper 4 - Infrastructure Position Statement.

This document is also available in our Document Library.

The Local Plan can enable the use of land in North Norfolk to meet the housing, economic and other needs and objectives which are set out in the Plan. It allows providers of services to plan for long term investments by providing clarity about the future quantity and distribution of growth.

The Plan does not grant planning permission for development. All of the proposals made in the Plan will require planning permission in the normal way before any development could commence.

In order to comment on any of the documents, responses must be submitted using our online Consultation Portal. This allows you to direct your feedback to the specific paragraph, policy or site that you wish to comment on. It also enables the Council to efficiently manage and process your comments, resulting in a better service for you.

We are accepting comments between Tuesday 7 May and Wednesday 19 June 2019.

If you have any difficulty in using the Consultation Portal please contact us on 01263 516318 so that we can arrange an alternative way of submitting your comments.

Yes! The local knowledge of residents and expertise of local businesses and organisations will help to make the Plan better. Whether you object to or support an element of the Plan, or wish to suggest some modifications, we are keen to have you feedback.

We will never ignore your feedback, whether or not we agree with it.

We will carefully read and consider all comments submitted to us and provide a response to each representation made. The method for responding will be via a Schedule of Comments, which will be published on our Local Plan website following the consultation.

The report will be given to Council members, who will decide which of the Planning Officers’ recommended changes to accept. We will then make these changes before publishing a Final Draft Local Plan for consultation at the end of 2019. 

We welcome all feedback, but please bear in mind that it is the substance of the comments, the specific points made and supporting evidence as opposed to the number of comments that will be most useful.

All responses will be considered equally, but excessive duplication will reduce the time available for us to handle each response and for progress to be made.

This can be a great idea. In some circumstances a petition will be an extremely efficient way to demonstrate public opinion on an important issue without simply repeating comments.

Petitions will free up more time for the Council to handle the consultation responses and for good progress to be made.

Please contact us on 01263 516318 if you are thinking of organising a petition.

At the end of the consultation period the Council will begin the process of reporting all of the comments made. This report will be provided directly to Council members who are responsible for deciding which of the Planning Officers proposed modifications to accept. We will then make these modifications to the Plan before publishing a Final Draft Local Plan at the end of 2019.

When submitting representations our privacy statement must be agreed to. This explains that the details of all those making representations will be added to the Local Plan Consultation Database. We will use this database to keep you informed of progress. We will usually do this via an occasional newsletter. We will never bombard you with unwanted or irrelevant information and we will never share this information unless required to do so by law.

If you need to speak to us the best way is to email planning.policy@north-norfolk.gov.uk. This enables us to queue your enquiry appropriately, to consider and respond most effectively.

You can also call on 01263 513811 if you need to talk to us urgently.

Please bear in mind that we are likely to be extremely busy during the consultation period and will contact you as soon as we are able.

Public Drop-in Events

You can talk to us about the Local Plan at a range of events we are holding across the District. The Local Plan Consultation page contains further details of these events.