Coastal development bid 'engineered' to avoid affordable homes

Outline planning was being sought for nine homes in Old Coast Road, Ormesby, once the main route linking Caister to Scratby, California, Hemsby and beyond.

Now stopped up to vehicles, although a walkway remains, the proposed site was on a triangle of land next to Salisbury Cottages, a 19th century terrace of homes.

A bid for nine homes in Old Coast Road, Ormesby, has been refused. (Image: Google Maps)

It proposed a mix of three and four bedroomed detached and semi-detached houses on Grade 1 agricultural land the applicant said had been rented by a farmer but become "unviable."

Refusing the application under delegated powers planners at Great Yarmouth Borough Council said: "It would be difficult to object purely on density grounds except that a figure of nine dwellings appears engineered to avoid affordable housing contributions.

"Because nine dwellings do not trigger affordable housing contributions there is no material public benefit arising from the proposal, other than the delivery of nine larger homes."

The site is also said to be outside village development limits and "remote."

Concerns were also raised over the effect on the rural, coastal landscape and the blurring of boundaries between Ormesby and Caister.

Flashback picture dated 1962 showing the First and Last Pub and the Old Coast Road curving round towards the top of the image before the roundabout was built. (Image: Archant Archive)

The papers conclude there is "no over-riding reason to give up this land to development."

They add: "The type and mix offer no material planning benefits over and above the delivery of nine homes, where current delivery rates and land allocations elsewhere in the borough are considered to be satisfactory."

They also note the land is Grade 1 farmland that has been cultivated in the recent past.

To view the documents click the link here.