We have worked together across boundaries and political divides for eight years to create this Local Plan that will shape our lives for the better and enhance our place over twenty years.
Greater Norwich (Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk district councils working in partnership with Norfolk County Council and the Broads Authority) has an excellent record of partnership working.
We were one of the first partnerships nationally to adopt a joint local plan, the Joint Core Strategy, in 2011 (only 16 areas have adopted joint plans in England). Since 2013, we have taken a successful and unique approach by pooling Community Infrastructure Levy income from developers to help to pay for the infrastructure improvements we need.
We have worked with all the Norfolk planning authorities and with infrastructure providers and environmental bodies using common data to plan together for our strategic needs across the county and with our neighbours in Suffolk. As a result, growth has been well-planned, with new infrastructure delivered to support it, whilst at the same time protecting and enhancing our special environment.
This plan, the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP), builds on our extensive experience of joint working to identify where growth and new infrastructure is needed from 2018 to 2038. Our ambition is that the GNLP will make sure that our unique area continues to be well-planned, so that growth brings with it benefits for all and provides for a sustainable future. Plan adoption will keep us at the forefront of joint planning nationally which will help us to attract investment into the area, including Government funding.
The plan will deliver high-quality homes, along with a broad range of new jobs and supporting infrastructure, including green infrastructure, roads, schools, health care and broadband connectivity. The plan includes a range of policies which will ensure that the development is in the best locations to support our existing communities and to create thriving new communities, as well as making sure that development is well-designed, and is sustainable. We are focusing growth close to the places with the best facilities and connectivity. We are protecting the gaps between settlements whilst allowing our villages to grow in a measured way to sustain rural services.
The approach to growth set out in this plan means that we will build better, stronger, and greener. We have identified housing sites that will be sustainable in the long-term and provide homes for all, from young people looking for their first home through to meeting the needs of an ageing population. Government targets have led to around 45,000 new homes being provided for in the plan period to 2038. The good news is that over 8,700 of the homes we need were built between 2018 and 2022.
Our local economy has strong foundations. The plan will help us to play our part in the wider national push to a low carbon economy. To do this, the plan encourages economic growth in the right locations, providing opportunities for businesses to expand or relocate to our area. It encourages innovation and building on our strengths, particularly in the agri-tech and life sciences sectors, together with the growth of a wide range of economic sectors from advanced manufacturing to digital creative industries - each supported by an increasingly skilled workforce. Our plan will stimulate the creation of a strong, enterprising, productive, broad-based, and post-carbon economy.
Protecting our environment and habitats and creating new green spaces and green infrastructure links to provide new and improved habitat networks and biodiversity net gain for all development sites are also key considerations as we respond to climate change.
Collectively we stand ready to deliver on these far-reaching ambitions for all of us who live and work in Greater Norwich.
We believe the Greater Norwich Local Plan contains a blueprint which will help our area realise its potential. It will deliver the homes, jobs, infrastructure, environmental benefits, and low carbon growth which we need.
Councillor Susan Holland, Leader of Broadland District Council
Councillor Mike Stonard, Leader of Norwich City Council
Councillor Lord Fuller OBE, Leader of South Norfolk Council
March 2024