Open Space Developer Requirements

The provision of public open space and facilities for sport and recreation underpins people’s quality of life. Where new development occurs, it is important that sufficient open space, sport and recreation provision is made to meet the needs arising from the new development.

Following a review in 2019/20, the Council has published a new assessment of Open Space within north Norfolk. The main aim of the study was to provide a detailed audit of the quality and quantity of open space and sport provision within the District.

The study provides the most up to date evidence of need, updated standards regarding the future provision of open space through developer contributions, and associated costs in line with the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). It provides the justified evidence to support the requirement for open space contributions in Policy CT2 of the adopted North Norfolk Core Strategy.

The study identifies a requirement for 72.39 hectares of open space in order to meet the proposed housing requirements over the Local Plan period 2016 to 2036. This is broken down as 4.36ha per 1,000 population and is further broken down into the following typologies of open space:

• Play Space (children): 0.10ha per 1,000 population
• Play Space (youth): 0.06ha
• Parks and Recreation: 1.10ha
• Natural Greenspace: 1.5ha
• Amenity Greenspace: 1ha
• Allotments: 0.6ha

The following table sets out the type of open space and whether the provision of this will be required on or off-site, based on the number of dwellings in the proposal:

 A ‘cost calculator’ sits behind this, along with up-to-date evidence on surplus/deficiencies of open space in each parish area (to be updated through the Council’s Annual Monitoring Report once the new Local Plan is adopted), and will be used by officers to determine the open space requirements on individual planning proposals.

Further information should be obtained through the Councils pre-application advice service where specific advice will be given around the exact costs, type and location of provision.

The Council adopted this evidence in August 2020, to be utilised through Policy CT2 and to inform future Plan-making. Development proposals and decision making involving the provision of open space should now be based upon the requirements set out in this document. Applications that do not meet the requirements will be considered to be contrary to Core Strategy Policy CT2.

To view the Open Space Assessment please visit the Environment section of the Document Library.