The allocation of between 30 and 80 houses for Leek Wootton will provide a modest amount of housing growth that can be absorbed into the village without significantly changing local character. The amount of growth proposed under this policy is appropriate to make an effective contribution to supporting local facilities and services. Growth of less than 30 dwellings is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on supporting local services.
On behalf of my client I submit for your consideration land that under the proposed policies would be suitable for housing development. The land is located on Hill Wootton Road, between houses fronting on to The Hamlet and the A46, as outlined in red on the plan submitted with these representations.

* The site is in a sustainable location and meets the sustainability criteria identified in the new local plan.

* The site is available for development. The land is owned by my client who would make the site available for development to contribute immediately toward the five year housing land supply. There are no legal restrictions that would inhibit or prevent the land being fully utilised for appropriate development.

* The site is suitable being located in a sustainable location on the edge of a village that has local facilities and is served by public transport.

* Development of the site is readily achievable. The site is in a location that is highly desirable to the housing market. The site is free from development constraints and there would therefore be strong demand by house builders to proceed with development.

* The new local plan proposes to designate Leek Wootton as a Category 2 settlement, suitable for between 30 and 80 dwellings. The site has an area of 1.85 hectares which at a density of 40 dwellings per hectare would provide a scheme of 74 dwellings. This amount of housing development would satisfy the total local plan housing growth target for Leek Wootton. All of the envisaged housing growth for Leek Wootton can be accommodated on my client's site. There would be no need to release other land in the village for housing development. Other edge of settlement sites at Leek Wootton are less suitable for development because they either provide land for recreational use or provide an attractive rural setting to the village.

* Allocating the client site for housing will provide a significant amount of affordable housing. The new local plan threshold of 40% affordable housing would provide about 30 affordable housing units on the client site. This amount of affordable housing can only realistically be achieved with a site of this size. Policy PO5 in the new local plan proposes a threshold for providing affordable housing in rural areas of 5 or more dwellings. A policy of infilling on small sites in Leek Wootton providing between 1 and 4 dwellings would fail to provide any affordable housing. To meet the need for affordable housing identified in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment and the Local Housing Needs Assessment it is necessary for the new local plan to allocate larger sites for housing development. My client's site will make a very important contribution to the provision of affordable housing which is unlikely to be satisfied by small scale infill within the village.

* In addition to the factors set out in the preceding paragraphs, the site is suitable for housing development for the following reasons:
o The site has no physical constraints. Currently the site is an agricultural field with no natural features that would require preservation.
o The site has no known drainage issues that would prevent development.
o The site has an 80 metre frontage to Hill Wootton Road with adequate visibility for road access. A number of semi mature trees along the roadside verge would need to be replaced with a suitably landscaped frontage.
o Development of the site would have very limited impact on the rural setting of the village. The site is visually enclosed by the embankment of the A46 dual carriageway to the east and an established housing estate to the west. The site is effectively an infill plot of land. These features limit public views of the site thereby greatly mitigating the visual impact of the site on the surrounding landscape.
o The A46 and the housing estate to the west provide strong defensible boundaries to prevent further development beyond the site. These characteristics would ensure development of the site would not lead to the long term erosion of the rural character of the village.

* I submit the site meets the sustainable criteria in the proposed new local plan and is suitable for designation as a housing development site.