West Winch Growth Area
Frequently Asked Questions
(Last updated November 2024)
Who’s who in Planning?
Central government set national planning policy. The principal planning guidance for the whole of England is the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), a 78-page document that sets out how local authorities should prepare local policy.
Norfolk County Council (NCC) have a county wide planning role in some areas – notably highways and transport, schools, minerals and waste.
The Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk (BCKLWN) are the Local Planning Authority (LPA) and are required to provide an up-to-date plan for development for the whole Borough as well as determining all development applications (from large-scale schemes to altered fences and new signage).
Parish Councils are allowed to make a Neighbourhood Plan which provides additional detail and policy that might not be included in the Borough Local Plan. West Winch Parish Council and North Runcton opted to prepare a joint Neighbourhood Plan and this was adopted in 2017. Parish Councils do not determine planning applications, but they are statutory consultees on applications within their parish.
The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group is a group of volunteers from West Winch and North Runcton including Parish Councillors and local residents.
What authority does a Neighbourhood Plan have?
Neighbourhood Plans were introduced as part of the Localism Act in 2010. When a Neighbourhood Plan is adopted, it becomes part of the Local Plan for the area. That means that Borough planning officers will use it to help decide what planning applications are suitable for the area. All new development should comply with the relevant policies within the Neighbourhood Plan.
What area does the North Runcton and West Winch Neighbourhood Plan cover?
It covers the whole of the parishes of North Runcton and West Winch. However, some policies refer specifically to the West Winch Growth Area – which is an area that the Borough Council have allocated for the expansion of King’s Lynn. It is an area which is partly in North Runcton and partly in West Winch. The policies consider economic, social and environmental aspirations for the existing and future community.
Why have the Borough Council allocated all this area for growth?
LPAs are required to respond to central government policy. Successive governments have made policy to encourage more house building. LPAs must calculate how many new houses need to be completed every year in their district. This is then extrapolated over a 5-year period. Local authorities must prove that they have allocated enough new land to build the required number of houses over that period – the so-called ‘5-year supply’.
The West Winch Growth Area (WWGA) is the largest allocated housing area in the Borough and is expected to take many years to build. When it was first allocated in
2016 the goal was to complete 1,600 new houses by 2026 – and up to 3,500 in the fullness of time.
The timetable has slipped and it is now proposed to commence building in 2026. BCKLWN are now talking about the area eventually having 4000 houses.
When will the building start?
The north end of the WWGA (approximately 52 hectares) is known as the ‘Hopkins site’ as the house builders Hopkins Homes have proposed 1100 homes, a new school and associated infrastructure in this area. This area is also sometimes referred to as ‘Constitution Hill’ and Hopkins have presently named the area ‘Hardwick Green’ (as it lies within the ward of Hardwick and wholly within the parish of North Runcton).
Hopkins Homes received outline planning consent for this development in August 2024 (Planning reference 13/01615/OM). They now need to submit full details of the design (known as ‘reserved matters’) and when these are approved, they can begin building (perhaps Spring 2026).
Hopkins have said they aim to have their first houses ready for sale in early 2027. They plan to build 300 houses at first – on land east of ‘The Winch’ pub site on the A10. All traffic for these 300 houses will access the site via the A10. After 300 houses are built, they will be required to add an access to the A47 before starting the next 800 homes. Hopkins have said they may sell parts of their site to other house building companies to complete the scheme.
What is an ‘outline’ planning application?
An ‘outline’ planning application is submitted to a planning authority to determine if a development is acceptable in principle. An outline application is required to show the proposed site boundary, access points and the scale and nature of the development. It may be accompanied by preliminary surveys and reports (e.g. trees, ecology, flood risk and drainage).
If outline planning permission is granted the developer is asked to submit details of the scheme (the ‘reserved matters’) within a set period of time (generally 3 years). Therefore, an outline does not give permission for work to start on site.
What are ‘reserved matters’?
Reserved matters usually include aspects of the development design such as the appearance of buildings, building materials, details of the roads and drainage, and landscape design. These details need to be approved by the LPA before permission to start work on site will be given. Even when the reserved matters are approved the LPA will normally set ‘pre-commencement conditions.’
What are ‘pre-commencement conditions’?
These are conditions that must be met before work starts. They often include further details about design, construction arrangements, management of construction and ongoing management of the site after construction. Once the details are confirmed the LPA will ‘discharge’ them. The work must then start within two years.
What about the new road?
Because the scale of the WWGA development will greatly increase local traffic on already busy roads, it is proposed to build a new section of road along the east side
of the development. It will be approximately 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometres) long, with roundabout junctions near Gravellhill Lane on the A10 and near Sheep’s Course Wood on the A47. It will be a single carriageway road with three roundabout junctions into the new housing area. Some people have called it a ‘bypass’, but officially it is called the ‘West Winch Housing Access Road’ (WWHAR).
As the Highways Authority, Norfolk County Council have submitted the planning application for the road. They are also in charge of designing the road with their consultants, WSP. They have applied for funding from central government. If funding and planning consent fall into place they hope to start building the road in 2025 and to open it in 2027. You can read more about the road on the County Councils own website: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/article/39996/West-Winch-Housing-Access-Road
Note that the 1100 homes on the Hopkins site are not dependent on this road being built. Those homes will be built irrespective of the WWHAR going ahead.
What about the rest of the development?
A second application for housing was lodged by a company called Metacre in 2018 on behalf of Zurich Assurance, who own a lot of the farmland around West Winch. The proposed scheme is for 500 houses, a ‘local centre’ and associated infrastructure. (Planning reference 18/02289/OM).
The site is approximately 25 hectares in area, lies south of Rectory Lane, north of Chequers Lane and straddles the A10. It is wholly within West Winch parish.
This application has not been determined and it is doubtful that it can move forward until such time as the WWHAR is completed. This is because the level of traffic it would generate on the existing road system is likely to be unsustainable.
Metacre are not a house building company and once they have secured planning consent, they will most likely sell the site to a large house building company.
The Hopkins and Metacre schemes together would achieve the original 1600 new dwellings that BCKLWN require in order to continue to deliver their ‘5-year supply’.
Will there be any affordable housing?
In line with BCKLWNs current planning policies, it is anticipated that 20% of the WWGA housing will eventually be ‘affordable’ housing. The affordable housing will be secured via S106 agreements as part of the planning permissions. These are legally-binding agreements that apply to the land even if ownership changes.
The government define affordable housing as ‘housing for sale or rent for those whose needs are not met by the market’. It includes housing for rent, starter home schemes, discounted housing for sale and shared ownership schemes.
So will the Neighbourhood Plan ensure these proposals turn out well?
The Parish Councils (and any interested local residents) will need to review detailed development plans as they come forward. We will need to ascertain that the plans can deliver a scheme that is acceptable to existing residents and that will provide a high-quality place for future residents to live.
The adopted Neighbourhood Plan was intended to last 10 years from 2017. It will therefore need to be reviewed and republished by 2027. The NPPF has also been reviewed several times since 2017 and the current government are presently consulting on more changes – with a new national planning target of building 1.5Mn new homes in Britain in the next 5 years.
BCKLWN have also undertaken a review of their Local Plan that they hope to adopt in 2025. Therefore, the policy background for the North Runcton and West Winch Neighbourhood Plan is constantly changing and regular reviews and checks will continue to be necessary.
Can I comment on the plans?
All planning applications have a period for comments when they are submitted. The period usually lasts between 3-6 weeks, at which time all residents are entitled to review the submitted documents and provide comments. You will need the planning reference number. Go to this site for further information: https://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/homepage/169/comment_on_a_planning_application
The Parish Councils are also statutory consultees for all planning applications and you can tell us your views or concerns so that we can include them in our comments.
Produced by North Runcton Parish Council
November 2024