West Winch Growth Area - Frequently Asked Questions

Central government set national planning policy. The principal planning guidance

for the whole of England is the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), a 78-

page document that sets out how local authorities should prepare local policy.

Norfolk County Council (NCC) have a county wide planning role in some areas –

notably highways and transport, schools, minerals and waste.

The Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk (BCKLWN) are the Local

Planning Authority (LPA) and are required to provide an up-to-date plan for

development for the whole Borough as well as determining all development

applications (from large-scale schemes to altered fences and new signage).

Parish Councils are allowed to make a Neighbourhood Plan which provides

additional detail and policy that might not be included in the Borough Local Plan.

West Winch Parish Council and North Runcton opted to prepare a joint

Neighbourhood Plan and this was adopted in 2017. Parish Councils do not

determine planning applications, but they are statutory consultees on applications

within their parish.

The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group is a group of volunteers from West

Winch and North Runcton including Parish Councillors and local residents.

Neighbourhood Plans were introduced as part of the Localism Act in 2010. When a

Neighbourhood Plan is adopted, it becomes part of the Local Plan for the area. That

means that Borough planning officers will use it to help decide what planning

applications are suitable for the area. All new development should comply with the

relevant policies within the Neighbourhood Plan.

It covers the whole of the parishes of North Runcton and West Winch. However,

some policies refer specifically to the West Winch Growth Area – which is an area

that the Borough Council have allocated for the expansion of King’s Lynn. It is an

area which is partly in North Runcton and partly in West Winch. The policies

consider economic, social and environmental aspirations for the existing and future

community.

LPAs are required to respond to central government policy. Successive governments

have made policy to encourage more house building. LPAs must calculate how

many new houses need to be completed every year in their district. This is then

extrapolated over a 5-year period. Local authorities must prove that they have

allocated enough new land to build the required number of houses over that period –

the so-called ‘5-year supply’.

The West Winch Growth Area (WWGA) is the largest allocated housing area in the

Borough and is expected to take many years to build. When it was first allocated in

2016 the goal was to complete 1,600 new houses by 2026 – and up to 3,500 in the

fullness of time.  

The timetable has slipped and it is now proposed to commence building in 2026.

BCKLWN are now talking about the area eventually having 4000 houses.

The north end of the WWGA (approximately 52 hectares) is known as the ‘Hopkins

site’ as the house builders Hopkins Homes have proposed 1100 homes, a new

school and associated infrastructure in this area. This area is also sometimes

referred to as ‘Constitution Hill’ and Hopkins have presently named the area

‘Hardwick Green’ (as it lies within the ward of Hardwick and wholly within the parish

of North Runcton).

Hopkins Homes received outline planning consent for this development in August

2024 (Planning reference 13/01615/OM). They now need to submit full details of the

design (known as ‘reserved matters’) and when these are approved, they can begin

building (perhaps Spring 2026).

Hopkins have said they aim to have their first houses ready for sale in early 2027.

They plan to build 300 houses at first – on land east of ‘The Winch’ pub site on the

A10. All traffic for these 300 houses will access the site via the A10. After 300

houses are built, they will be required to add an access to the A47 before starting the

next 800 homes. Hopkins have said they may sell parts of their site to other house

building companies to complete the scheme.

An ‘outline’ planning application is submitted to a planning authority to determine if

a development is acceptable in principle. An outline application is required to show

the proposed site boundary, access points and the scale and nature of the

development. It may be accompanied by preliminary surveys and reports (e.g.

trees, ecology, flood risk and drainage).

If outline planning permission is granted the developer is asked to submit details of

the scheme (the ‘reserved matters’) within a set period of time (generally 3 years).

Therefore, an outline does not give permission for work to start on site.

Reserved matters usually include aspects of the development design such as the

appearance of buildings, building materials, details of the roads and drainage, and

landscape design. These details need to be approved by the LPA before permission

to start work on site will be given. Even when the reserved matters are approved the

LPA will normally set ‘pre-commencement conditions.’

These are conditions that must be met before work starts. They often include further

details about design, construction arrangements, management of construction and

ongoing management of the site after construction. Once the details are confirmed

the LPA will ‘discharge’ them. The work must then start within two years.

Because the scale of the WWGA development will greatly increase local traffic on

already busy roads, it is proposed to build a new section of road along the east side

of the development. It will be approximately 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometres) long, with

roundabout junctions near Gravellhill Lane on the A10 and near Sheep’s Course

Wood on the A47. It will be a single carriageway road with three roundabout

junctions into the new housing area. Some people have called it a ‘bypass’, but

officially it is called the ‘West Winch Housing Access Road’ (WWHAR).

As the Highways Authority, Norfolk County Council have submitted the planning

application for the road. They are also in charge of designing the road with their

consultants, WSP. They have applied for funding from central government. If funding

and planning consent fall into place they hope to start building the road in 2025 and

to open it in 2027. You can read more about the road on the County Councils own

website: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/article/39996/West-Winch-Housing-Access-Road

Note that the 1100 homes on the Hopkins site are not dependent on this road being

built. Those homes will be built irrespective of the WWHAR going ahead.

A second application for housing was lodged by a company called Metacre in 2018

on behalf of Zurich Assurance, who own a lot of the farmland around West Winch.

The proposed scheme is for 500 houses, a ‘local centre’ and associated

infrastructure. (Planning reference 18/02289/OM).

The site is approximately 25 hectares in area, lies south of Rectory Lane, north of

Chequers Lane and straddles the A10. It is wholly within West Winch parish.

This application has not been determined and it is doubtful that it can move forward

until such time as the WWHAR is completed. This is because the level of traffic it

would generate on the existing road system is likely to be unsustainable.

Metacre are not a house building company and once they have secured planning

consent, they will most likely sell the site to a large house building company.

The Hopkins and Metacre schemes together would achieve the original 1600 new

dwellings that BCKLWN require in order to continue to deliver their ‘5-year supply’.

In line with BCKLWNs current planning policies, it is anticipated that 20% of the

WWGA housing will eventually be ‘affordable’ housing. The affordable housing will

be secured via S106 agreements as part of the planning permissions. These are

legally-binding agreements that apply to the land even if ownership changes.

The government define affordable housing as ‘housing for sale or rent for those

whose needs are not met by the market’. It includes housing for rent, starter home

schemes, discounted housing for sale and shared ownership schemes.

The Parish Councils (and any interested local residents) will need to review detailed

development plans as they come forward. We will need to ascertain that the plans

can deliver a scheme that is acceptable to existing residents and that will provide a

high-quality place for future residents to live.

The adopted Neighbourhood Plan was intended to last 10 years from 2017. It will

therefore need to be reviewed and republished by 2027. The NPPF has also been

reviewed several times since 2017 and the current government are presently

consulting on more changes – with a new national planning target of building 1.5Mn

new homes in Britain in the next 5 years.

BCKLWN have also undertaken a review of their Local Plan that they hope to adopt

in 2025. Therefore, the policy background for the North Runcton and West Winch

Neighbourhood Plan is constantly changing and regular reviews and checks will

continue to be necessary.

All planning applications have a period for comments when they are submitted. The

period usually lasts between 3-6 weeks, at which time all residents are entitled to

review the submitted documents and provide comments. You will need the planning

reference number. Go to this site for further information:

https://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/homepage/169/comment_on_a_planning_application

The Parish Councils are also statutory consultees for all planning applications and

you can tell us your views or concerns so that we can include them in our comments.

Produced by North Runcton Parish Council

November 2024

It’s a yes!

Further to the referendum held on Thursday 28th September, we are pleased to announce residents have voted to support the Neighbourhood Plan.

Asked the question ‘Do you want the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to use the Neighbourhood Plan for North Runcton and West Winch to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area’, 90.53% of voters answered ‘yes’.

This is a very clear response and the Parish Councils wish to thank everyone who took the time to vote. The number of votes cast was 686, which represents a 25.05% turnout.

West Winch and North Runcton Parish Councils signed a memorandum of agreement to work together to produce a Neighbourhood Plan in 2012.

The Neighbourhood Plan area covers the entire extent of both parishes. It was felt that a Neighbourhood Plan could help local residents have more say in how urban expansion proposed within our Parishes by the Borough Council will be planned and delivered.

On these pages, you can read more about what a Neighbourhood Plan is, how the process to create a Neighbourhood Plan works, and how far the Parish Councils have progressed with the Plan preparation to date.

In March 2017 the proposed Neighbourhood Plan was submitted to an independent examiner, Deborah McCann, who had been selected with agreement between the Borough Council and Parish Councils.  Her task has been to formal review the Neighbourhood Plan and see that it meets statutory planning guidance.

In June 2017 she completed her review and concluded that, subject to some suggested minor modifications, the plan ‘met the Basic Conditions’ and was therefore suitable to ‘proceed to referendum’.

The Borough Council will co-ordinate the referendum – which we expect will happen later in the year – expected to be late September – date to be confirmed.

If more that 50% of voting residents support the Plan it will be put forward for adoption by the Borough Council.

We have now updated all of the Neighbourhood Plan information provided on these pages and would ask that you carefully review it so you know as much as possible about this very important policy document.

Frequently Asked Questions. (FAQs) If you have limited time, we would ask that you at least read through our updated FAQs sheet. We hope this summarises all of the important issues you should be aware of.

Neighbourhood Plans were introduced to the planning system through the Localism Act (2011). They were conceived by government as a way of giving local communities more input into planning decisions in their area. They will usually be developed by a Town or Parish Council – although in un-parished areas they can be brought forward by designated Neighbourhood Forums.  A Neighbourhood Plan must comply with four basic conditions:

* Have regard to national planning policies

* Be in general conformity with the strategic policies of the local planning authority (in our case the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk)

* Contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development

* Comply with EU legislation (subject to any changes that may come about due to ‘Brexit’)

Simply put, an adopted Neighbourhood Plan becomes part of the ‘Local Plan’ for the area in question – in our case, sitting alongside the Core Strategy and the SADMP for the entire Borough.

A typical Neighbourhood Plan process would be as follows:

1. Parish Council / Community decides a Neighbourhood Plan would be beneficial.
2. Parish Council applies to Local Planning Authority (LPA) stating what area they would like to include in a Neighbourhood Plan.
3. LPA confirms acceptance.
4. Parish Council undertake research and community consultation to ascertain local issues and aspirations – considering social, economic, environmental and other related issues.
5. A Neighbourhood Planning team develop a draft document – normally including policies and plans setting out planning goals for a set period (generally 10–20 years).
6. Plan goes through statutory six-week ‘Pre-submission’ consultation within community. Any changes are made as required.
7. Plan is submitted to LPA – who coordinate a second minimum six-week publication period for comments.
8. The plan and comments are then submitted to an external planning examiner who assesses whether the document meets the four basic conditions (set out above).
9. On the advice of the examiner the plan can be finalised and recommended to proceed to referendum.  We are at this stage now.
10. A local referendum is held in the Parish or area covered by the plan and if more than 50% of voters agree to the plan, the LPA can adopt it.
11. 
    

An adopted Neighbourhood Plan is a statutory planning document and is used by the LPA as a basis for determining planning applications.

You can find out more about Neighbourhood Plans at the following websites:

www.rtpi.org.uk/planning-aid/neighbourhood-planning

www.mycommunity.org.uk/take-action/neighbourhood-planning

Some background to the North Runcton and West Winch Neighbourhood Plan … or … what have we done so far??

In July 2010, BCKLWN, in association with Zurich Assurance Ltd, a significant landowner in the parishes, invited representatives from the Parish Councils to a workshop to ‘Explore sustainable growth within West Winch and North Runcton’.  The workshop was facilitated by the Princes Foundation – a planning consultancy specialising in community led planning. In late 2011 BCKLWN adopted their ‘Core Strategy’ document – which confirmed their desire for extensive development in the parishes. In 2012 the Parish Councils agreed to work together to develop a Neighbourhood Plan in order that they may exert some influence on the proposed development – signing a Memorandum of Agreement in October 2012. BCKLWN subsequently formally agreed the designation of the Neighbourhood Plan area in March 2013.

Therefore, although commencement of the Neighbourhood Plan process was only officially agreed with the planning authority in 2013, in fact a great deal of relevant consultation had been on-going since the planning workshops in July 2010. This had included exhibitions and meetings organised by BCKLWN as part of their on-going LDF process, exhibitions and meetings organised by respective developers to promote their own sites and plans, and a range of exhibitions, meetings and information gathering by both Parish Councils.

A Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (SG) was set up in 2012 with representatives from both parishes.  The SG has been instrumental in bringing divergent stakeholders together and identifying the ideas and concerns of particular local interest groups – including landowners, local businesses, community groups, the relevant schools, neighbouring parishes and individual residents of all ages.

In September 2012 the SG appointed The Princes Foundation to assist the parishes with planning and consultation expertise  – and this assistance continued until March 2013, when funding was withdrawn.

In 2013 the SG was awarded direct support from Planning Aid England as well as grant funding via the Community Development Foundation. In 2013 and 2014 the SG commissioned drainage experts to advise on sustainable urban drainage and produce a Surface Water Management Plan for the area – Appendix H Part 1 – NRWW Surface Water Management Strategy Main Report April 2014

Most importantly, the SG has organised a range of consultation events and processes to gain input from residents within the parishes and to ensure that interested residents have consistently had the opportunity to comment on the draft plans and policies being produced by all stakeholders.  For a  record of Neighbourhood Plan consultation between 2010 and 2016 –Part 1 and Part 2.

Who is the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group? The Neighbourhood Plan steering group has consisted of Parish Council representatives from both North Runcton and West Winch and other interested residents.

Richard Morris (North Runcton) and Michele Summers (West Winch) have acted as Chair and Vice Chair of the Steering Committee – assisted by Fran Leamon (group secretary), Judy Close (group treasurer), and with various help along the way from June Leamon, Paul Foster, Barry Houchen, Clive Williams, Paul Burt, Barry Thrower, Douglas Eakins, Pam Yates and many other parishioners over the period of the plan development.

Examiners Final Report – Examiners Final Report

Responses to questions from the Examiner – Steering Group responses to Examiner

Click here for a link to the Borough Council website for further information about the neighbourhood plan.

North Runcton and West Winch Neighbourhood Plan

It’s a yes!

Further to the referendum held on Thursday 28th September, we are pleased to announce residents have voted to support the Neighbourhood Plan.

Asked the question ‘Do you want the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to use the Neighbourhood Plan for North Runcton and West Winch to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area’, 90.53% of voters answered ‘yes’.

This is a very clear response and the Parish Councils wish to thank everyone who took the time to vote. The number of votes cast was 686, which represents a 25.05% turnout.

The Neighbourhood Plan will now become an adopted BCKLWN planning document and will be used in determining future planning applications in the parishes of North Runcton and West Winch.

Although the process has been hard work and has taken five years and hundreds of hours to produce, the real work starts now! The Parish Councils will need to ensure the policies are upheld when planning applications are being considered, and all residents should review the document when preparing an application – or when preparing an objection to an application.

We will maintain a Neighbourhood Plan section on the Parish Council websites and will update these to reflect issues that arise.

The BCKLWN endorsed referendum version of the Neighbourhood Plan is provided below. 

This version now includes the modifications recommended by the examiner.

The other documents provided below were submitted to the Borough Council in 2016 along with the ‘LPA Submission Neighbourhood Plan – November 2016’.
These documents will still be relevant as supporting information to the main Neighbourhood Plan – should the community vote to support the Plan on Thursday 28th September 2017.

We particularly hope that the 2014 Surface Water Management Study will help to inform future drainage planning in both Parishes.

NR WWNP – including Final_Cover_Oct-2017

NR WW NP Decision Statement October 2017

Neighbourhood Plan Referendum RESULT

Notice of Referendum

BCKLWN Endorsed Version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Supporting Document – Sites of Value

Appendix H Part 1 – NRWW Surface Water Management Strategy Main Report April 2014

North Runcton and West Winch Surface Water Management Study (2014) Drawings

Consultation Document Part 1

Consultation Document Part 2

The following is the pre-submission document which is now superseded.

Neighbourhood Plan LPA Submission Version (2016)

Basic Conditions Statement (2016)

North Runcton and West Winch Neighbourhood Plan
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated January 2018

Who’s who?
The Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk are the Local Planning Authority and have a development plan for the whole King’s Lynn and West Norfolk area. West Winch Parish Council and North Runcton Parish Council are your local Parish Councils. Parish Councillors all live within the Parishes. The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group is a group of volunteers from both parishes including Parish Councillors and local residents. They worked together to write the Neighbourhood Plan because they were concerned about the Borough Councils plans for our two parishes.

What authority do they have?
The Localism Act gives local people the right to produce a Neighbourhood Plan providing they follow the legal guidance.
What’s the Neighbourhood Plan about again?
It’s about local people having a say in how West Winch and North Runcton will grow in future.

What area does the North Runcton and West Winch Neighbourhood Plan cover?
It covers the whole of the parishes of North Runcton and West Winch. However, some policies refer specifically to the West Winch Growth Area – which is an area where the Borough Council are proposing most of the new development. It is an area which is partly in North Runcton and partly in West Winch.

I heard there is a lot of new development proposed?
There is! The Borough Council ‘Strategic Growth Area’ straddles parts of both North Runcton and West Winch parish. Within this area they want to see developers build 1,600 new houses by 2026 – and they are proposing to allow at least 3,500 in the longer term.

I don’t want that! How can I stop it!
We are long past that stage. The strategic growth area is now adopted Borough policy.

But the Neighbourhood Plan has also been promoting this development?
No, it hasn’t! The King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough council has decided the growth area. The Neighbourhood Plan is simply a way for local residents to have a say in how that development is delivered.

How will the Neighbourhood Plan help?
The Borough Council have decided where they want development and how much development they want. The Neighbourhood Plan sets out policies about roads, green space, play provision, transport, community facilities, and ways to reduce flood risk amongst other things. It includes ideas that local residents have said they would like to see.

I expect the Neighbourhood Plan will just be ignored anyway?
No, it is a legal document and is now adopted as part of the Local Plan for our parishes. That means the Borough planning officers will use it to help decide what planning applications are suitable for the area. All new development will have to comply with the relevant parts of the Neighbourhood Plan.

Where can I see the Neighbourhood Plan?
You can also see the proposed Neighbourhood Plan on the Parish Council websites
North Runcton PC website: www.northrunctonpc.norfolkparishes.gov.uk
West Winch PC website: www.westwinchparishcouncil.uk
It can also be viewed on the Borough Council’s website at www.west-norfolk.gov.uk and, during office hours, at the Borough Council’s office in King’s Lynn.
If you do not have internet access and want to see a printed copy then please phone King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council on 01553 616200

How can the Neighbourhood Plan be of use to me? How do I use it?
If you are preparing a planning application for development within the Parishes of North Runcton and West Winch you should read the Neighbourhood Plan and ensure that your plans accord with the relevant policies. If you wish to comment on a planning application by others, you should refer to the Neighbourhood Plan in your comments, referencing any particular policies and text, so that you can highlight any particular issues you may have and ensure that the planning officer assessing the application considers the matters you raise.

 North Runcton and West Winch Neighbourhood Plan – Final Version