New Local Plan for Breckland

Breckland residents now have another opportunity to have their say on plans for the district’s future, following the launch of a consultation on Friday 31st July. The consultation enables local people to review the latest version of Breckland’s Council’s Local Plan, which sets out how Breckland should grow over the Plan period to 2043.

The consultation is underway after the draft Local Plan was reviewed by the authority’s Cabinet at their recent meeting. It is a wide-reaching document which includes, primarily, sites for new homes and employment. It also covers issues such as water usage, agri-tech and how much affordable housing is required.

The document is mandated by Government and guides where development will take place and how the district’s housing target, which is set by Central Government, will be met. The new government housing target was increased by around 45% from the previous target, now requiring the building of 920 new houses in Breckland every year. As a result, Breckland Council is required to identify sufficient land to deliver at least 16,560 new homes over the life of the Local Plan.

Call for Sites for additional Gypsy and Traveller land

In addition to the formal consultation, Cabinet also noted that to meet the Government’s requirements to provide sufficient sites for gypsy and travellers to use, additional land should ideally be identified for this purpose. As a result, a separate ‘call for sites’ will also get underway, inviting local landowners to suggest suitable locations to help meet this need.

The consultation is set to run alongside the Regulation 19 Public Consultation from 31st July to 23:59 on 16th September 2026. As with the previous consultation, people will be able to submit their sites via the Council’s dedicated consultation platform GoVocal or by completing a comment form electronically, by post or at one of the upcoming drop-in events (details below).

Consultation period

The consultation opens Friday 31st July and closes at 23:59 on Wednesday 16^th September 2026.

Consultation matters

This final consultation stage is your chance to make representations on whether the document is legally compliant i.e. has been prepared in accordance with the relevant legislation and whether it is ‘sound’ i.e. positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy.

How to view the consultation materials

The proposed submission documents, and all supporting documents, will be available via Planning Policy – Breckland Council (www.breckland.gov.uk/planning-policy) from Friday 31st July 2026. Paper copies will be available to view over the consultation period at public libraries in the District, and during normal office opening hours at Breckland’s Main Offices at Elizabeth House, Walpole Loke, Dereham, NR19 1EE and at Thetford House, Nicholas Street, Thetford, IP24 1BT.

How to respond

You can make representations using our online consultation portal. This is the best way to comment as it ensures that your comments are summarised and recorded accurately and are processed quickly. The online system allows for attachments to be uploaded (e.g. for more detailed comments, or supplementary evidence). Officers will process representations submitted online, before processing email or postal correspondence. You can access the online consultation portal at the following link: https://breckland.govocal.com/en-GB/ or, attend a drop-in event below:

Local Plan Regulation 19 consultation drop-in events:

• 17 August (9.30am-1.30pm): Thetford Library
• 20 August (9.30am-1.30pm): Dereham Library
• 21 August (9.30am-1.30pm): Swaffham Community Centre
• 26 August (9.30am-1.30pm): Watton Library
• 28 August (9.30am-1.30pm): Attleborough Library
• 1 September (1pm-6.30pm): Bridgham and Roudham Village Hall (Chapel Lane Bridgham) – focussed on Roudham and Larling growth proposals
• 3 September (1pm-6.30pm): East Harling Old School Hall – focussed on Roudham and Larling growth proposals
• 8 September (1pm-6.30pm): Breckland Council office, Dereham – focussed on East Tuddenham growth proposals
• 9 September (4pm-7.30pm): Breckland Council office, Dereham

Other ways of responding

If you have any difficultly in making your representation by the above method, please contact us so that we can discuss how best to assist you in making a representation (e.g. ‘Paper’ or ‘Microsoft Word’ forms can be made available upon request). Paper or emailable comments should be sent on the relevant form to the address(es) below.

If you cannot reply to the consultation using the online consultation system, please complete an electronic Word version of the response form and email it to: localplan@breckland.gov.uk  

Filling in the form makes sure that we have all the correct information to register and process your views and to keep you informed of progress on the Breckland District Local Plan 2025- 2043. Alternatively, you can print out a copy of the form to complete with a pen (using black ink), and then send to:

Local Plan Regulation 19 Consultation

Planning Policy Team

Breckland Council

Elizabeth House

Walpole Loke

Dereham

Norfolk

NR19 1EE

If you have any queries regarding the Regulation 19 Consultation and Call for Sites, please contact the Planning Policy Team at planning.policyteam@breckland.gov.uk

The telephone box on the Village Green will shortly be spruced up with necessary regular maintenance.

Councillors would be interested to hear from anyone who has a suggestion over the use of the space within the telephone box – please let the clerk know if you have any ideas at all.

The Bats of Beachamwell

In the summer of last year the Beachamwell Parish Council borrowed some
specialist equipment from the British Trust for Ornithology (based in nearby
Thetford) which enabled us to record the sounds made by insects and bats
during the night in our village. Thanks to amazing technology the BTO can
upload ultrasonic recordings to a computing platform where algorithms then
identify all UK bat species by analysing echolocation sounds, feeding buzzes
and social calls. The results are transferred to their ‘Acoustic Pipeline’ for
research and reference either by yourself or by the BTO:

BTO Acoustic Pipeline | BTO

Using the recording equipment was relatively easy thanks to the detailed
instructions from the BTO. During the month of August, we set it up to record
acoustic data in five different garden locations spread across the village,
recording in each for two nights in succession. The results were quite
extraordinary.

There are eighteen species of bat resident in the UK and seventeen of them
breed here. Of these seventeen, the results in Beachamwell showed that we
can boast of at least eight species, two of which are classified as rare or
‘vulnerable’.

The six commoner bat species which have made their home in our village are
the Brown Long Eared Bat, the Common Pipistrelle, Natterer’s Bat, the
Noctule, the Soprano Pipistrelle and Leisler’s Bat, with the Common
Pipistrelle being present in the greatest numbers. The Noctule and Soprano
Pipistrelle registered in lesser but still large numbers and the remaining
species have much smaller populations.

Further information about each of these species – their appearance, their
behaviours, their preferred habitat – can easily be found at the Bat
Conservation Trust website:

UK Bats – Types of bats – Bat Conservation Trust

As if six species weren’t enough for one Norfolk village it appears that we are
also home to two rare species, species that were recorded in small numbers
in every single location we set up the equipment. These are the Serotine and
the Barbastelle.

The Serotine, according the the Bat Conservation Trust, is one of Britain’s
largest species and is one of the first to appear of an evening ‘often
appearing in good light’. They are usually found in old houses and churches
rather than modern buildings and rarely, almost never, roost in trees. As such,
they are one of the most building-orientated of bats. They are in decline
because of building work and the use of chemicals to treat timbers and are
now listed as ‘vulnerable’. They remain only in the South and East of England
and we are extremely lucky to host them here in Beachamwell.

Our second even rarer inhabitant is the Barbestelle, also classed as
‘vulnerable’. The Barbestelle is ‘a distinctive species, with a pug-like face and
large wide ears’, medium in size and a fast and agile flyer. The Barbestelle is
very rare, again only found in Southern and Eastern counties of England.
They prefer pastoral landscapes with deciduous woodland and water
meadows. We recorded enough Barbestelle sounds in all five garden
locations to be certain they are visiting the village, and perhaps breeding in it,
although this is unlikely. As one of Britain’s rarest mammals, little is known of
their mating habits. Unlike the Serotine they are known to roost in tree
crevices and hollow trees as well as in crevices in buildings.

The Acoustic Pipeline results also showed that we are home to large numbers
of Speckled Bush Crickets, smaller populations of both Dark Bush Crickets
and Great Green Bush Crickets, wood mice, European Pygmy Shrews and
Common Shrews!

The Beachamwell Parish Council would like to thank the British Trust for
Ornithology for the free provision of the specialist recording equipment and in
particular Hazel McCambridge for uploading all our data to the Acoustic
Pipeline when it should have been done by us. Finally, huge thanks to all the
enthusiastic villagers who took part in the Survey.

Jonathan Cooper, Parish Councillor

The Parish Council is exploring two options and would be grateful to hear if you have a preferred choice:

To offer CPR/Defibrillator training at the Annual Parish Meeting on 5th May – a short demonstration.

To offer a First Aid course at the Village Hall for residents covering primarily CPR/Defibrillator training, but also other aspects of first aid and addressing the training more in depth.

Both will be free to residents at the point of delivery.

Do you have an opinion to share please to guide Councillors as to which would be preferred?

You can let the clerk know on: clerk@beachamwellparishcouncil.gov.uk

12th January 7pm at the village hall and online.