Policy 7.1 The Norwich Urban Area including the fringe parishes

Page 102

Modification

Amend Policy 7.1 to read:

POLICY 7.1 - The Norwich Urban Area including the fringe parishes (underlined in the original)

Norwich and the fringe parishes¹⁰⁷ will be the area's major focus for jobs, homes and service development to enhance its regional centre role and to promote major regeneration, the growth of strategic and smaller scale extensions and redevelopment to support neighbourhood renewal. The area will provide 30,50027,960 additional homes and sites for a significant increase in jobs, including around 257 hectares of undeveloped land allocated for employment use.

To achieve this, development sites will be focussed in the city centre, in strategic regeneration areas in East Norwich and the Northern City Centre and at strategic urban extensions¹⁰⁸ in the north-east and west as well as other locations across the urban area as follows:

Housing (underlined in the original)

Employment (underlined in the original)

Other small-scale housing and employment development will be acceptable in principle elsewhere in the Norwich urban area subject to meeting other policies in the development plan.
 

The City Centre (underlined in the original)

Norwich city centre's strategic role as key driver for the Greater Norwich economy will be strengthened. Development in the city centre will provide a high density mix of employment, housing, leisure and other uses. Intensification of uses within the city centre to strengthen its role as a main regional employment, retail, cultural and visitor centre, providing a vibrant and diverse experience for all, will be supported.

Comprehensive redevelopment of the large district centre at Anglia Square and surrounding vacant land will provide a viable, high density, housing-led mixed-use development including retailing, employment, community and leisure facilities. The redevelopment of Anglia Square will be the catalyst for change in the wider Northern City Centre strategic regeneration area identified on the Key Diagram and defined in map 910.

1. Economy

To ensure a strong employment base, development should provide a range of floorspace, land and premises as part of mixed-use developments. Development should promote more intensive use of land to meet identified needs for start-up and grow-on space for small and medium sized enterprises including the digital creative industries, technology, financial and cultural and leisure services clusters.

To support this, loss of existing office floorspace will be resisted:

1. a) Within the areas defined under the 'Article 4 direction relating to the conversion of offices to residential';
2. b)For all statutory listed office buildings situated within the city centre (as defined by map 10);

unless it can be demonstrated that its loss will not be of detriment to Norwich's office economy.

Development of buildings for further and higher education, training and lifelong learning will be supported in the city centre. The development of purpose-built student accommodation will be accepted where it accords with the criteria in policy 5.
 

2. Retail and main town centre uses

The centre's retail function of the City Centre's primary and secondary retail areas and the large district centres will be supported as part of a complementary range of uses. Provision for any additional comparison retail floorspace will primarily be met through the intensification of retail use on existing sitesbe focused on these centres in accordance with the sequential approach and improvements to the quality of existing retail provision will be supported.

Proposals for new development and change of use in the City Centre's primary and secondary retail areas and the large district centres (as defined in policy 6) will be acceptedpermitted where they:

• contribute to meeting identified needs for new retail floorspace and other main town centre uses, including speciality and independent shopping and small-scale retailing; or
• promotePromote diversification of services and facilities to ensure that vitality and vibrancy can be maintained throughout the day and evening; or
• provideProvide mixed-use development including housing, high quality employment, flexible working, education, leisure, culture and entertainment, where this supports and complements the function of the centre; or
• secureSecure the beneficial redevelopment and adaptation of disused and underused land and premises including redundant retail floorspace and adaptation of upper floors to residential uses.
   

3. Leisure, culture and entertainment and the visitor economy

The city centre's leisure cultural and entertainment offer will be supported and expanded. Development of new leisure and cultural facilities, hotels and other visitor accommodation to strengthen the city centre's role as a visitor and cultural destination will be accepted in accessible locations well related to centres of activity and transport hubs. Leisure uses, including uses supporting the early evening economy, will be accepted within the defined city centre leisure area where noise and disturbance issues can be mitigated and where they do not have detrimental effect on the retail offering, especially in the primary retail area. A sequential approach will be used to determine applications for leisure uses outside the defined leisure area.where they:

• Are compatible with the surrounding uses;
• Would not give rise to unacceptable amenity and environmental impacts which could not be overcome by the imposition of conditions; and
• Would not have a detrimental impact upon the character and function of the city centre or undermine its vitality and vibrancy.

Late-night uses will only be accepted in the designated Late-Night Activity Zone.
 

4. Housing

To maximise the potential of the city centre to deliver new homes, housing willshall be requiredprovided on the specific allocated sites detailed in the Sites document.
 

5. The Built, Natural and Historic Environment

To protect and enhance the distinctive natural and built environment and heritage assets of the city centre:

• A programme of improvements to public spaces, as illustrated in a public realm infrastructure plan, will be implemented through a combination of public investment on the highway / publicly owned land and private investment in association with development proposals;.
• New development proposals will respect the character of the city centre conservation area and address the principles set out in the City Centre Conservation Area Appraisal (or any successor), providing innovative and sustainable design; in particular in relation to scale, mass, height, layout and materials.
• Riverside development will assist in deliveringhave regard to the policies/ priorities of the River Wensum Strategy (or any successor), including provision of a riverside walk. Riverside development should support and enable achievement of the strategy's longer-term plans.
   

6. Access and Transportation

Development will be required to contribute to measures promoted by Transport for Norwich to improve accessibility, connectivity, legibility and permeability within the city centre.
 

East Norwich (underlined in the original)

Development of sites allocated in the East Norwich sStrategic rRegeneration aArea (ENSRA) identified on the Key Diagram and defined on map 910 including Carrow Works (which includes Carrow House), the Deal Ground (including the former May Gurney site), and the Utilities Site and Land in front of ATB Laurence Scott will create a highly sustainable mixed-use gateway quarter accommodating substantial housing growth and optimising economic benefits. Development across the sitesIt will provide in the region of 4,000 additional3,362 homes in the plan period and significant new employment opportunities for around 6,0004,100 jobs. East Norwich also has the potential to act as a long-term catalyst for regeneration of the wider area, potentially including the following sites if they become available:

Redevelopment of the ENSRA will be guided by an area-wide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). The SPD will promote development of a locally distinctive, high density and high quality sustainable residential-led mixed-use community which takes full account of its setting and makes the most of its riverside location.

The SPD will provide the framework for seeking new transport infrastructure (through integrated access and transportation) which emphasises sustainable accessibility and traffic restraint and allows for connectivity and permeability within and between the sites and beyond), social infrastructure, jobs and services.

Development must also protect and enhance biodiversity and green infrastructure; provide for sustainable energy provision and its management; conserve, and where opportunities arise, enhance the significance of heritage assets; and address local issues including the active railway, the protected minerals railhead, noise, contamination and flood risk issues.

Whilst proposals within the ENSRA may come forward on different timescales, it is important that development is guided and informed by the SPD and should meet the site wide and site specific requirements set out within site allocations policy GNLP0360/3053/R10.

• · Redevelopment of land adjoining the railway between the Deal Ground and Carrow Works as part of the wider East Norwich strategic growth area masterplan supplementary planning document;
• · Land east of Norwich City F.C.;
• · Land owned by Network Rail on Lower Clarence Road and Koblenz Avenue
• · Intensification of uses at Riverside and
• · Regeneration in the Rouen Road area.

Site proposals within the East Norwich strategic regeneration area will meet the requirements of an area-wide masterplan to ensure co-ordinated development. This will include:

• · an exemplar design approach, building at high densities and maximising the riverside regeneration potential to create a distinct, highly sustainable mixed-use community and new gateway quarter for the city, taking account of its setting adjacent to the Broads; .
• · creating an inclusive, resilient and safe community in which people of all ages have good access to high quality homes that meet housing needs the provision of area-wide economic and social infrastructure and services, including (but not limited to) the creation of new employment opportunities, a new local centre, and a new primary school should need be established;
• · establishing an integrated access and transportation strategy which emphasises sustainable accessibility and traffic restraint, and allows for connectivity and permeability within and between the sites in the strategic regeneration area and beyond, including north-south links between Trowse and Bracondale and the north bank of the Wensum and Thorpe Road / Yarmouth Road, and east-west between the city centre, the railway station and Whitlingham Country Park and the Broads including an extended riverside walk on the north and south banks of the Wensum. Proposals should be designed for ease of access to, and by, public transport, with appropriate bridge provision to ensure the sites are fully permeable by sustainable transport modes;
• · planning development effectively to manage and mitigate the impact of vehicular traffic from the site/s on the local highway network including the Martineau Lane roundabout, Bracondale and King Street;
• · protecting and enhancing green infrastructure assets, corridors and open spaces within the area, including enhancing linkages from the city centre to the Broads, Carrow Abbey County Wildlife Site the wider rural area and elsewhere in Norwich, to include pedestrian/cycle links between Whitlingham Country Park and the city centre;
• · providing for sustainable energy generation, including a local energy network serving the area as a whole;
• · protecting and enhancing the sites' and wider city's rich heritage assets and their settings;
• · achieving high quality, locally distinctive, energy efficient and flood resilient design which addresses identified risks from river and surface water flooding and mitigates against potential sources of noise and air pollution and establishes strong built frontages along the River Wensum and the defining network of streets and spaces with the sites;
• · addressing and remediating site contamination; and
• · planning to allow scope for greater use of the Rivers Wensum and Yare for water-based recreation, leisure and tourism including the potential inclusion of marinas and riverside moorings and access for waterborne freight subject to not impeding navigation of either river.
   

Elsewhere in the urban area including the fringe parishes (underlined in the original)

The remainder of the urban area including the fringe parishes will provide for a significant proportion of the total growth in Greater Norwich. Development will provide a range of sites for different types of housing, employment and community uses that are accessible and integrate well with the existing communities. It will provide necessary infrastructure, with a focus on public transport, walking and cycling, as well as social and green infrastructure.

Growth will include:

• Development of strategic and smaller scale urban extensions at existing locations committed for housing and employment uses as set out in the tables above (including that within the adopted Old Catton, Sprowston, Rackheath and Thorpe St Andrew Growth Triangle Area Action Plan), with uplift on existing allocated sites in Cringleford, Easton and Three Score (Bowthorpe);
• Significant new development proposals (including the expansion of the Norwich Research Park, and a large new allocation for homes in the Growth Triangle in Sprowston);
• Development at the University of East Anglia to cater for up to 5,000 additional students by 2038 through intensification of uses within the campus and its limited expansion;
• Development sites in the Sites document which will support neighbourhood-based renewal on brownfield sites, with densities highest in the most accessible locations; and
• Enhancements to the green infrastructure network which will include links to and within the Wensum, Yare, Tud and Tas Valleys, Marriott's Way and from Mousehold through the north-east growth triangle as set out in maps 8A and B, along with local networks.

In addition, a large contingency site is identified in Costessey to be brought forward if delivery of housing in the GNLP area does not meet local plan targets.

Reasons

To ensure the plan is effective and justified.