Planning Policy

The Planning Policy Team is responsible for developing the policies that set out the Councils approach to development in the District. The planning system in England and Wales follows a plan-led system - this involves preparing plans containing policies that set out what can be built and where. The system was updated by an Act of Parliament (the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act) in December 2004 which required local authorities to replace their Local Plans with Local Development Frameworks, the production of which is the main task currently undertaken by the Planning Policy Team.

Please follow the links below for more information on planning as well as Regional and National Policy

National Planning Policy Statements & Guidance Notes (PPSs, PPGs) – These set out the Government’s national approach to spatial planning, they provide guidance for both Local Authorities and others on planning policy and the planning system in general. Local authorities must take their contents into account in preparing plans.
Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) – The East of England Regional Assembly is the regional planning body for the Breckland and prepares the “East of England Plan” (which replaces the county level Structure Plan). This plan sets out the housing numbers for each district as well as indentifying other needs.

There are other types of plan, such as those produced by Norfolk County Council in relation to waste or mineral extraction. This is known as the Waste and Minerals Local Development Framework.

Adopted Local Plan

Every planning application will have some effect on the local community and the environment. The Council has a framework of detailed planning policies to help make decisions on the planning applications the Council receives. These policies are contained in the Breckland District Local Plan.

The Breckland District Local Plan was adopted in September 1999. It was originally prepared to plan for the period up to mid 2006.

In 2004 the process for producing the development plan changed significantly. Breckland Council has started to prepare a Local Development Framework that will replace the Breckland District Local Plan.

Breckland Council applied for some of the policies from the Breckland District Local Plan to be saved for a period after 27th September 2007 until the relevant parts of the Local Development Framework have been adopted.

Please follow this link for more information on the Adopted Local Plan.

Local Development Framework

The Breckland Local Development Framework (LDF) will replace the adopted Local Plan. Please follow this link to the Local Development Framework pages of this website.

5 Year Housing Supply

Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing requires Local Planning Authorities to identify and maintain an up-to-date five year supply of deliverable housing sites, in line with the housing provision targets set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy.

Breckland has undertaken an assessment to test its housing supply over the next 5 years against the targets set out in the East of England Plan, the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England.

Please follow this link to view the assessments:

Breckland Five Year Supply of Housing Assessment (April 2008) (238Kb)

Breckland Five Year Supply of Housing Assessment (April 2009) (181Kb)

Contact Details

If you require any further information on any of the issues covered by Planning Policy please contact the Planning Policy Team on (01362) 656873.

Alternatively you can fax us on: (01362) 656297

Or send an email to: PlanningPolicyTeam@breckland.gov.uk

Or write to us at:

Planning Policy
Environmental Planning Team
Breckland Council
Elizabeth House
Walpole Loke
Dereham
Norfolk NR19 1EE

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