Wymondham planning: 4.85 years of housing land

Planning in Wymondham is not decided by Wymondham. The town sits in South Norfolk, and South Norfolk plans jointly with Broadland, Norwich City and Norfolk County Council through the Greater Norwich Development Partnership. So the document that governs what gets built here is the Greater Norwich Local Plan, adopted in March 2024 and already, by the councils’ own account, out of date.

This page sets out where that plan stands, the single number that currently matters most, and the two live pieces of plan-making that will change things.

The number that matters: 4.85 years

Every council has to show that it has a five-year supply of deliverable housing land. Greater Norwich cannot. Its own assessment for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030 puts the position at 4.85 years.

The arithmetic, straight from that assessment:

South Norfolk supplies 4,447 of those 9,888 forecast homes, more than Broadland’s 3,931 and far more than Norwich City’s 1,510. This district is carrying the largest single share of Greater Norwich’s housing delivery, and it still does not add up.

The consequence is not abstract. Because the supply is under five years, the National Planning Policy Framework’s presumption in favour of sustainable development applies, under paragraph 11d, when the councils determine planning applications here. In plain terms, an application on a site the plan never allocated is much harder for the council to refuse than it would be if the supply figure were 5.2 years rather than 4.85.

Why the supply fell

Two things are happening at once: supply has dropped, and the bar has been raised.

Nutrient neutrality. New development in the protected river catchments has to demonstrate it will not add nutrients to those waters, and the measures to allow that were slow to arrive. The forecast supply for 2025 to 2030 is 9,888 homes, which is 2,405 fewer than the 12,592 the plan’s own housing trajectory projected for a comparable five-year window, and nutrient neutrality is the contributory factor the assessment identifies by name.

A rule change in December 2024. The revised National Planning Policy Framework introduced a new standard method for calculating local housing need. For Greater Norwich it raises the annual figure by 34%, from about 1,930 homes a year to about 2,590. The adopted plan was examined against the old method.

And there is a third turn of the screw. From 1 July 2026, where a recently adopted plan’s housing requirement is less than 80% of the new local housing need figure, a 20% buffer applies instead of 5%. The GNLP’s requirement is 78% of the current need figure, so the buffer has risen and Greater Norwich now needs, in effect, six years of housing land rather than five.

Live plan-making 1: the Village Clusters Plan

South Norfolk is the most rural of the three Greater Norwich districts, and the adopted GNLP left its smallest villages to a separate document: the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan, usually shortened to VCHAP.

It allocates sites to deliver the bulk of the approximately 1,200 new homes due in the village cluster area by 2038, and it is at examination now:

• 4 August 2025: submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination.
• 17 September 2025: the inspector, Mr D Reed BSc DipTP MRTPI, sent his initial letter.
• 13 January 2026: hearing sessions opened, running over four days.
• 26 March 2026: the council received the inspector’s post-hearing letter.
• 30 April 2026: the council published its response to that letter.

The examination is at stage 2 of 4. What comes next is the inspector telling the council which changes the plan needs, known as Main Modifications, followed by a public consultation on those changes, and only then a final report. If you have a view on where houses go in the villages, the Main Modifications consultation is the next moment to have it heard.

The examination’s document library and its running list of updates are both public, and the programme officer, Mrs Annette Feeney, handles all correspondence rather than the council.

Live plan-making 2: the Greater Norwich Local Plan 2045

Because the December 2024 rules raised the housing figure so sharply, the three councils have committed to writing a whole new plan under the government’s new plan-making system. It will be called GNLP 2045.

The timetable agreed in April 2026:

• 30 June 2026: publish the Local Plan Timetable and issue the formal Notice to Commence.
• 30 October 2026: publish the Gateway 1 self-assessment, which starts a statutory 30-month plan-making window.
• Anticipated adoption: 2030, with the plan running to at least 2045 because national policy requires a 15-year horizon from adoption.

A Call for Sites ran from 15 June to 13 July 2026, inviting landowners and agents to put forward land for allocation, with gypsy and traveller sites and brownfield sites in Norwich city centre named as priorities. Those submissions become the evidence base for the first public consultation.

Two things about GNLP 2045 are worth knowing now. First, it will be a digital, map-based document with measurable outcomes rather than a conventional written plan, and it will not repeat national policy, so it will be shorter and more about allocations than about policies. Second, and more consequentially for this district, the councils have written that commencing the plan now provides the opportunity to consider allocating a site or sites for a new settlement, an ambition already referenced in the adopted GNLP.

There is also a deadline behind the deadline. Norfolk’s eight existing councils are due to be replaced by three new unitary authorities from April 2028, with South Norfolk’s area split between them. The councils’ own report notes that if they did not start GNLP 2045 now, there would be no new allocations by a successor authority until at least the early 2030s, and an extended period with no five-year supply.

What has actually been decided lately

The South Norfolk Development Management Committee meets monthly and takes the applications that officers cannot decide themselves. Recent business:

• 29 July 2026: a 66-bed, three-storey care home on the former Feather Mills factory site at Park Road, Diss, brought by LNT Care Developments, went to committee with an officer recommendation to refuse, subject to a further riparian animal survey. The site is cleared brownfield land inside the Diss development boundary, formerly allocated as DIS 7 under the old South Norfolk Site Allocations document, which the GNLP has largely superseded.
• 29 July 2026: an application by the council itself to paint a mural inside the Fire Arch at Market Street car park, Wymondham, recommended for approval with conditions. The arch, the 1883 former fire station entrance, is not listed but is treated as a non-designated heritage asset within the Wymondham Conservation Area.
• 3 June 2026: the committee considered a long-running Swardeston application and viability evidence for a scheme at Bracon Ash.

Appeals lodged between 22 May and 20 July 2026 include a refused change of use to create 13 gypsy and traveller pitches at The Hollyoaks, London Road, Suton, on the edge of Wymondham, which the committee itself refused, and a refused application for six dwellings at Suton Street, Spooner Row.

How to check or comment on an application near you

• Find an application: the Broadland and South Norfolk planning portal carries every application for both districts. Because the two councils share one portal with no council filter, check the address before assuming an application is in South Norfolk.
• Weekly lists: the same portal publishes weekly lists of validated and decided applications.
• Committee papers: agendas, reports and minutes for the South Norfolk Development Management (Planning) Committee are published in advance of each monthly meeting.
• Comment periods are normally 21 days from validation for a standard application. Comments have to relate to planning matters, not to the applicant.

Frequently asked questions

Does South Norfolk have a five-year housing land supply?

No. The Greater Norwich authorities, of which South Norfolk is one, published a position of 4.85 years for the period April 2025 to March 2030, a shortfall of 299 homes. As a result the presumption in favour of sustainable development at paragraph 11d of the NPPF applies when applications are determined.

What is the current local plan for Wymondham?

The Greater Norwich Local Plan, adopted in March 2024, covering Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk to 2038. It set a requirement of 40,541 homes for the area between 2018 and 2038. A replacement, GNLP 2045, started preparation in 2026.

How many homes does South Norfolk have to deliver?

South Norfolk’s site-by-site forecast contributes 4,447 homes to the Greater Norwich total of 9,888 over the five years from April 2025 to March 2030, the largest share of the three districts.

What is the Village Clusters Plan?

A separate South Norfolk document allocating housing sites in the district’s smaller villages, delivering the bulk of about 1,200 homes by 2038. It was submitted for examination on 4 August 2025, hearings ran from 13 January 2026, and it is now awaiting the inspector’s Main Modifications.

Is a new town being planned in South Norfolk?

Not yet, but the councils have written that starting GNLP 2045 now provides the opportunity to consider allocating a site or sites for a new settlement, and that a new settlement is a long-standing ambition referenced in the adopted GNLP. No location has been identified.

What happens to planning when South Norfolk Council is abolished?

Norfolk’s eight councils are due to be replaced by three unitary authorities from April 2028, with South Norfolk’s area divided between them. GNLP 2045 is being written now partly so that allocations exist before the successor authorities take over, rather than leaving a gap until the early 2030s.

Sources

• Greater Norwich Housing Land Supply Assessment, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030 for the 4.85-year position, the 40,541-home requirement, the 15,316 completions, the 4,447 South Norfolk forecast, the nutrient neutrality finding and the paragraph 11d conclusion.
• Notice to Commence Plan Making, South Norfolk Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Development Panel, 8 April 2026 for the GNLP 2045 timetable, the 30-month statutory window, the 78% and 20% buffer rules, the new settlement ambition and the 2028 reorganisation point.
• Broadland and South Norfolk, Emerging Local Plan for the March 2024 adoption of the GNLP and the status of the Village Clusters plan.
• South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan for the 1,200-home figure, and the examination latest updates page for every date in the examination timeline.
• Greater Norwich Local Plan 2045 consultation portal for the Call for Sites dates.
• Norfolk County Council, local government reorganisation for the three-unitary decision of 25 March 2026 and the April 2028 date.
• South Norfolk Development Management (Planning) Committee, 29 July 2026 agenda and the officer reports for 2025/1543 Diss and 2026/1074 Wymondham, plus the appeals list.

Committee recommendations are not decisions. Where this page reports an officer recommendation, the committee’s resolution and the formal decision notice may differ, and both are published on the planning portal.