Bawdeswell - Village Development

Village Development

There has been significant development in the village in the last few decades. The population had declined from 410 at the 1891 census to 331 in 1971 increasing to 574 in 1981, 652 in 1991, 766 in 2001 (all census figures) and to about 847 in 2010 (ref Parish Clerk). This increase was in no small way due to the development of the Hall Road and Two Fields Way area plus Paradise Road. Since 2000 the developments at Saxon Meadows, All Saint's Court and Chaucers Heath (Reeve's Close) plus other infill have added at least 24 new houses and the redevelopment of the sheltered housing accommodation at Folland Court completed in August 2009 has seen eight larger family houses built. There is considerable opposition within the village to any further large scale development, especially of sixty or so houses on the site near Two Fields Way proposed by the 'Gladedale Group', expressed at the Annual Parish Meeting in May 2007, and the draft Breckland Local Development Framework (LDF) has not listed Bawdeswell for any significant development.

Parish Council Policy has been to resist attempts to make Bawdeswell an LSC (Local Service Centre) and to opt for minor development only within the existing development boundary and to accept two small sites to be included in a minor adjustment of the settlement boundary. (See minutes of Parish Council meeting on 7 July 2008 for more details). Breckland Council's Core Strategy which does not list Bawdeswell as an LSC or for any significant development has been broadly accepted by The Planning Inspectorate in their report. and was adopted on 17 December 2009.

The Breckland LDF Task & Finish Group examined ten site specific submissions for the village and rejected all of them.