I publish this post in response to those document as a resident of Butt Lane, Burgh Castle and not as a Borough Councillor nor as a representative of any authority.
My initial reaction to the documents that were circulated was that we are a village that cannot tolerate any more development given the state of our infrastructure and the already highly populated holiday parks. It should be noted that some of these park residents stay on site some 11 months of the year.
This screenshot from Google Earth shows the true picture.
From the River Waveney on the left of the image, holiday camps extend virtually all the way across the village to its boundary on Lord's Lane.
The shape of the village is something of a distended pentagram if one looks at the shape given by Butt Lane, High Road and Mill Road. The temptation maybe to suggest that the land inside this pentagram should be prone to large scale, infilling, development. I would argue that such a move would destroy the rural heart of Burgh Castle and must be resisted at all costs.
Land adjacent to the River Waveney is protected from development due to the vicinity of the Roman Fort. Whilst it is unlikely to happen, any planned development in the land between Butt Lane and the Gariannonum must also be resisted with similar motive.
There has been talk previously about a development in the area known as "The Doles" behind Butt Lane. I have taken a screenshot from Google Maps and shaded the area and included positioning of possible access roads to the site based on current access.
This proposal raises several questions, not least for the developer. The water table here is very high and the proximity of the Fen dyke makes flooding a real possibility. Secondly, the amount of piling required would place a real burden on the current infrastructure.
A development here would not adversely affect the rural character of the northern end of the village which is home to the only operational farm in that area. However, the size of the site would guarantee that this would present a massive alteration to the southern end of the village. One thing is certain, without significant improvements to the existing infrastructure, especially drainage, this development could not enjoy my support.
Land off High Road was also identified in the discussion documents. In my opinion, High Road is too narrow and of too poor a quality to facilitate any development of large scale in this area. I have highlighted the area of interest below.
Change in my view is inevitable and managed change is the only sure way that people who live in a village can be assured of as little impact as possible.
Whilst I have identified issues with several of the sites identified at the last Parish Council Meeting, I do feel that some of the areas of interest could be conducive to very small scale development. In particular I draw attention to the areas highlighted below.
Once again, I must reiterate that these possible sites would only be supported by me as potential sites of development if the proposed development was in keeping with the rural nature of the village.
I look forward to the next meeting of the Council which takes place on 8th March at 7:30pm in the Village Hall.
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