Evidence base
On this page, find background documents which may be used as the evidence base for the emerging neighbourhood plan. The documents are divided into categories and sub categories. We will add to this list as and when we become aware of documentation that we need to include.
Council Documentation
Local Plan Policy
The council’s current planning policy can be found on their website:
The council is currently in the process of rewriting some of this policy in a document called the Greater Norwich Local Plan. More can be found about this on their website:
In 2010, the city council created a policy document for this area in particular, called the Norwich Northern City Centre Area Action Plan. This document expired in 2016, and this is why we need a new policy document for this part of the city.
The city council is obliged to work with neighbourhood forums in developing neighbourhood plans. The way they plan to do this is set out in their statement of community involvement. They have also created a page on their website about neighbourhood planning.
Heritage
The Neighbourhood Area is within the Norwich City Centre Conservation Area. You can find information about the conservation area on the city council’s website by clicking the following links:
Some properties within the area have restrictions on what can be done without planning permission (permitted development) called an Article 4 Direction. There is one Article 4 Direction in the Neighbourhood Area:
The location of listed buildings and scheduled ancient monuments is indicated on maps within the Conservation Area Appraisal document above, but if you want to read more about a particular listed building, you can look it up on the Historic England website. For locally listed buildings, there is a list on the city council’s website.
National Planning Documentation
National Planning Policy Framework
All Planning Policy must be consistent with the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which can be found by following this link:
They also have guidance on the application of this framework and various other planning related issues.
Neighbourhood Planning and Design Codes
The National Model Design Code provides detailed guidance on the production of design codes, guides and policies to promote successful design.
External bodies documentation
Specific advice from external bodies
When the neighbourhood forum was formed, we were given information by organisations which have specific responsibilities that was specific to our neighbourhood forum.
General advice from external bodies
As well as this specific information, organisations with special planning responsibilities offer general advice in relation to neighbourhood planning.
Community commissioned documentation
Beauty In My Backyard
In early 2016, the owner of St Mary’s Works sponsored a community consultation event based on the BIMBY toolkit developed by the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment (as then was). This involved two events, where members of the local community and stakeholders got together to talk about the character of the local area. At those events, the community identified 5 essential qualities of the area, that they wanted to see reflected in development proposals:
A consultant then went away and produced a document that analysed the characteristics of the area, and where and what type of housing development might be suitable for the area (note that although the document is called Norwich Housing Manual, it is specifically relevant to this part of the city):
Cathedral Magdalen and Saint Augustines Forum
In 2018, the Cathedral Magdalen and Saint Augustines Forum (which was the precursor to this organisation, covering a larger area) obtained some funding to commission some consultancy work to analyse aspects of Norwich’s planning policy. They produced two documents: one comparing the approach taken to skyline and views between Norwich and York; and another analysing gaps in heritage policy. Both documents are short, and do not go into much detail, but may be useful for those initially looking into either of these two aspects of policy.