Town council is right to resist Neighbourhood Plan

Reepham Town Council has done the right thing in resisting District Cllr Stuart Beadle’s attempts to push for a Neighbourhood Plan.

As a former local authority planning officer and having been involved in such proposals, the principal issues tend to be housing allocations and highway issues.

In Reepham’s case, Broadland District Council has already determined that the future housing requirements for the town of 141 homes for the next 25 or so years will be at a single site at Broomhill Lane, next to the high school and college and proposed sports hall – despite the significant number of local objections and the local road network not being “fit for purpose”.

And the only highway issues that are considered will relate to traffic management and not highway improvements due to financial restraints.

The town council needs to be extremely careful regarding any “willing volunteers” coming forward as there have been significant cases of “vested interests”, especially relating to facilitating housing development for reasons other than the best interests of a Neighbourhood Plan.

Hugh Ivins, Whitwell