Sprowston's new plan to 2040 protects 51 green spaces and admits Wroxham Road traffic never fell. Comments open on 30 September and close at 5pm on 11 November.
Sprowston’s new neighbourhood plan goes out for formal public comment on Wednesday 30 September. It will shape planning decisions in the town until 2040, and anyone can respond until 5pm on Wednesday 11 November 2026.
The plan replaces the one Sprowston voted through in 2014. It also takes in Beeston St Andrew, the small farming parish to the north, because the Beeston Park development straddles the boundary between the two.
One line in it will ring true for anyone who drives into Norwich from the north-east. The 2014 plan had a policy for tree planting on Wroxham Road, on the expectation that traffic would fall once the Northern Distributor Road opened. That policy is now deleted. The reason the plan gives is plain: the expected reduction in traffic along Wroxham Road “has not happened” (Submission Draft, August 2026, section 6). The Northern Distributor Road opened in 2018 and is now the Broadland Northway.
Why a new plan now
The first Sprowston Neighbourhood Plan was made in May 2014. It followed a referendum that March in which 88% voted yes. It only ran to 2026, so Sprowston Town Council began a review in autumn 2024.
Since then the scale of building has grown. The Greater Norwich Local Plan, adopted in March 2024, puts two large allocations in Sprowston parish:
- about 1,200 homes at White House Farm, phases 2 and 3
- about 2,000 homes in the north-west of the parish, part of Beeston Park
Beeston Park as a whole is 3,500 homes, spread across Sprowston, Old Catton and Beeston St Andrew. It already has outline planning permission.
The town is growing without it. Sprowston’s population rose from 14,691 in 2011 to 17,125 in 2021, and its households from 6,536 to 7,717. Beeston St Andrew had 37 residents in 13 households on census day 2021, and has no parish council, only a parish meeting. All figures are from the plan itself.
What the plan would do
A neighbourhood plan cannot stop the allocated homes. What it can do is set the rules planning officers must weigh when applications come in. The main ones are:
- 51 Local Green Spaces in Sprowston given formal protection, from Sparhawk Park and the Hall Wood Road play area to small green spaces at Blue Boar Lane and on Wroxham Road
- Harrison’s Park: support for a recreation hub and activity park around Harrison’s Wood, Cottage Plantation, the Sports and Social Club grounds and The Breck, with a new safe crossing of Blue Boar Lane
- Sprowston Green Heart: a protected corridor of green space around Barkers Lane, Church Lane, the Millennium Wood and Wilks Farm Drive
- six local centres where small shops are encouraged: Cannerby Lane, Tills Road, Corbet Avenue, White House Farm, Dixon Fold and Wroxham Road
- Wroxham Road shops: in-principle support for safe crossings, traffic calming, better parking and a pedestrian forecourt in front of the units
- houses in multiple occupation supported only where there is parking for every occupant
- schools and health services to be built in the early phases of new development, not after the homes are occupied
- Beeston Hall’s parkland: the view south from the hall to be kept open, with new building “landscape-led”
The plan also records that a new secondary school is needed for the growth area. Whether it goes in Sprowston or Rackheath “is yet to be determined”.
Several 2014 policies are dropped because their work is done. The Sprowston Diamond Centre policy goes because the centre was built. The burial ground extension goes because that was completed too.
Who the housing is for
The plan draws on a housing needs assessment by the consultants AECOM, finished in June 2025. Its findings, as the plan sets them out:
- house prices in Sprowston are lower than across Broadland, but so are incomes
- households on average incomes “would still struggle” to buy an entry-level home without a large deposit
- private renting is “only really an option” for households with two incomes
- the greatest need for affordable homes is for social or affordable rent
- a 50% First Homes discount “could be justified” in Sprowston
The biggest shift is in age. Just over 2,100 Sprowston residents were aged 75 or over in 2021. The assessment expects that to reach 3,330 by 2040, a rise of 54%, taking the over-75s from 12% to 17% of the town.
There are about 95 specialist homes for older people in the parish now, 60% of them for social rent. The plan says the largest gap is open-market sheltered housing, for older owners who want to move somewhere smaller with support on hand.
How many people shaped it
Every Sprowston household was sent a survey in March 2025. 906 households replied, a return rate of 11.7%. In Beeston St Andrew, 5 households replied, a return rate of 39%. A first draft then went out for comment from 21 March to 8 May 2026, and the town council submitted the final version to Broadland District Council on 2 September 2026 (Broadland District Council, Sprowston and Beeston St Andrew Neighbourhood Plan Review).
What it means for you
If you live in Sprowston, this is the document that will be quoted back at every planning application in the town for the next 14 years. This is the last stage at which residents’ comments go to the independent examiner who tests the plan.
How to comment:
- email the response form to neighbourhoodplans@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk
- or post it to Place Shaping Team, Broadland District Council, The Horizon Centre, Broadland Business Park, Peachman Way, Norwich NR7 0WF
- the deadline is 5pm on 11 November 2026; comments are published, without personal details, after the consultation closes
Where to read it: the plan, design codes and evidence are on the council’s documents page. The main plan is a 56MB PDF, so it is slow on a phone. Paper copies are at:
- Sprowston Library, Recreation Ground Road, NR7 8EW
- Sprowston Diamond Centre, School Lane, NR7 8TR
- The Horizon Centre, Broadland Business Park, by appointment on 01603 431133
The council’s question-and-answer sheet points readers to the “Strumpshaw Neighbourhood Plan Review webpage” in one place. That is a slip: the Sprowston page is the right one (Reg 16 FAQs).
What happens next
After 11 November the council appoints an independent examiner, who receives every comment. The route then depends on how much the plan has changed:
- if the examiner decides the changes alter the nature of the 2014 plan, it goes to a referendum, and needs more than half of those voting to say yes
- if not, the examiner’s findings are binding, and the council adopts the plan with any changes the examiner requires, without a vote
The wider picture is still moving. The next Greater Norwich Local Plan, looking to 2045, is at its earliest stage. Our report on the 165 Broadland sites offered for it covers what landowners have put forward. For decisions already in the system, see Broadland planning news, and for what homes in the district are selling for, Broadland house prices.
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