The Site Allocations Development Plan makes proposals for a substantial mixed use urban expansion on land to the north of Fakenham. Policy F01 of the Plan requires the prior approval of a Development Brief, stating that it should include details of site access, sustainable transport, layout, phasing (including the provision of employment land), and conceptual appearance.

History

A ‘Master Plan’ for the development of this site was produced by the main landowner (Trinity College, Cambridge) in 2009 to demonstrate that the site would be available for development, that it was suitable, and to begin to illustrate how the site might be developed. This Master Plan was submitted by the owners as part of the evidence base to support allocation of the site through the Local Development Framework process, and was used as a basis for the approved Development Brief.

A draft Development Brief was published for public consultation in March 2012 and, following consideration of the responses, a report was prepared for the Planning Policy & Built Heritage Working Party meeting on 23 July 2012. At the meeting it was decided not to approve the Development Brief in order to consider further the following:

  • The traffic circulation impacts of the proposed development on the existing highway network.
  • The strategy for green infrastructure, and the potential to redistribute both formal and informal open space to ensure its better integration within the development.
  • Incorporation of textual changes to the brief as outlined in the 'response' section of Table 1 of the report.

A revised Development Brief was submitted to the Council in late 2014 and comments were invited from the public. Following the consultation a number of changes were proposed and these are detailed in the papers for the Planning Policy & Built Heritage Working Party meeting on 19 January 2015.

The final, approved, Fakenham Development Brief was published on Monday 5 December 2016