A new or amended planning application is set to be submitted for a housing development only, on the former College of West Anglia site off Parkway, in Gaywood, King’s Lynn, if agreed by Cabinet and Council.
The move follows a review of the existing Parkway development scheme, requested by the new leader of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Cllr Stuart Dark, MBE, and his cabinet.
The revised proposal would replace the recently approved scheme for 379 homes, with a scheme that would only be built on the western side of the site, the site that has already been allocated for the development of some 260 homes in the local plan. There would be no development on the eastern side of the site of either homes, roads or the road bridge. This new plan, once drawn up, would be promptly submitted for planning permission and would be considered on its own merits through that process, which would include a further period of public consultation.
Cllr Stuart Dark, Leader of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, said: “When I took on this role I said we would be reviewing our major plans and projects to ensure they are the right things to do, given how much the world has changed over the last 15 months or so. We want to be sure that all projects are in tune with our key, clearly defined priorities of supporting people and our communities (in this case building homes for local people), nurturing our environment and effectively managing council finances, as the latter allows us to continue delivering the services on which we all rely
We asked officers to review this major scheme so that it could be brought before Cabinet without delay, given its scale, the critical stage of the process we are currently at and the amount of public interest in it. We are still committed to delivering much-needed and affordable housing in King’s Lynn and throughout this review will be looking to retain as many high quality, energy-efficient homes as possible just contained within the western, allocated site.”
Officers were asked to look at whether the currently approved scheme would deliver on the outcomes originally envisaged, including accessibility and the balance of costs to benefits. A recent updated costing for the construction of the bridge has resulted in a negative impact on the cost/benefit of the original scheme. A further report will be presented at the next Cabinet meeting which will detail the costings of the revised proposal.
If these recommendations are approved the report will then go to full council on 8 July 2021.
Details of the potential revised scheme are not available at this point, as this proposal needs to worked up before being submitted for planning permission.