Broadland approved 3,850 homes at North Rackheath in February 2026, at 12% affordable against a 33% target. Greater Norwich holds 4.85 years' housing land.

Broadland’s planning story in 2026 comes down to three things pulling against each other: the largest housing permission the district has ever granted, a housing land supply that has slipped below the level the Government requires, and a council that will not exist in two years’ time.

Everything below is taken from the councils’ own published documents, with a link to each one.

The plan Broadland is working to

Broadland does not have a local plan of its own. It shares one with Norwich and South Norfolk: the Greater Norwich Local Plan, adopted in March 2024 and running from 2018 to 2038 (Broadland and South Norfolk).

The numbers in it are these. The local housing requirement is 40,541 homes over the twenty years, calculated with the Government’s standard method. The plan then provides for a total forecast supply of 45,041, an 11% buffer over the requirement, to absorb sites that do not come forward. Averaged out that is 2,027 homes a year across the three districts, though because building ran ahead early the residual requirement was set at 1,990 a year from April 2023 (GNLP adopted strategy, appendix 4).

Broadland’s share is spread across the Norwich fringe, the market town of Aylsham, five key service centres inside the district (Acle, Blofield, Brundall, Reepham and Wroxham, which sit in the plan’s service-centre tier alongside South Norfolk villages), and a set of village-cluster allocations.

The supply problem

Greater Norwich annual housing: what is required, what is forecast, and what the new national method demands Bar chart comparing three annual housing figures for Greater Norwich. Forecast delivery for 2025 to 2030 is 1,978 homes a year. The Greater Norwich Local Plan requirement with the 5 per cent buffer is 2,037 homes a year. The housing need figure under the December 2024 National Planning Policy Framework is 2,590 homes a year, 34 per cent higher than the previous method's 1,929. Greater Norwich is building below its target, and the target just rose 34% Homes per year across Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk. Sources: Greater Norwich Housing Land Supply Assessment 2025 to 2030 and the GNLP. Forecast delivery 2025-30 1,978 a year Plan requirement + buffer 2,037 a year Need under Dec 2024 NPPF 2,590 a year The gap in the middle is 299 homes over five years, and it is what puts the supply at 4.85 years instead of 5. The red bar is not yet the figure the plan is measured against. It is the number a plan review would have to meet, and it is 34% above the previous standard method's 1,929 a year. Broadland's own share of the five-year forecast is 3,931 homes, against 4,447 in South Norfolk and 1,510 in Norwich.
Three different annual numbers, all current, all pointing the same way.

At 1 April 2025 the three councils could demonstrate 4.85 years of housing land supply, against the five years national policy requires. The arithmetic is published in full: a five-year requirement of 10,187 homes including the 5% buffer, against a forecast of 9,888, leaving a shortfall of 299 (Greater Norwich Housing Land Supply Assessment, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030).

Of that 9,888, Broadland accounts for 3,931 homes, South Norfolk 4,447 and Norwich 1,510.

Falling under five years matters because it weakens a council’s hand at appeal. Developers can and do argue that the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies, which makes speculative applications on unallocated land harder to refuse.

Why the supply fell: nutrient neutrality

The councils are explicit about the cause. The GNLP forecast 12,592 homes for 2023 to 2028. The equivalent forecast for 2025 to 2030 is 9,888, a drop of 2,704 homes, or 21%. In the assessment’s own words, “existing permissions and sites outside the Nutrient Neutrality area have continued to be developed, but likely development on some new allocations and permissions has been delayed”.

Nutrient neutrality is the requirement that new housing must not add nitrogen or phosphorus to protected river catchments, which in this district means the Broads rivers. The three councils’ response has been to set up a not-for-profit company, Norfolk Environmental Credits, to sell mitigation credits. It is working, but it is not working fast enough to hold the five-year figure.

And the target is about to get much bigger

The Government rewrote the standard method for calculating housing need in the December 2024 National Planning Policy Framework. For Greater Norwich the effect is stark: annual need rises from 1,929 homes to 2,590, an increase of 34%.

That figure does not apply to the adopted plan yet. It is the number any review of the Greater Norwich Local Plan would have to plan for, and national policy requires plans to be reviewed within five years of adoption, which for a March 2024 plan means by March 2029.

North Rackheath: 3,850 homes, approved

On 25 February 2026 the Broadland Planning Committee voted unanimously to approve application 2022/0663, an outline application by Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd and Manor Farm Rackheath Ltd for up to 3,850 dwellings on land north of Green Lane West, Rackheath (printed minutes, 25 February 2026).

It is not just houses. The permission covers employment land, local centres and community facilities, two primary schools and one secondary school, sports provision, formal and informal open space, orchards and allotments, an energy centre and primary substation, and a foul water treatment works. All matters are reserved except the vehicle accesses, so the detailed layout has still to come back.

The committee’s report puts the projected population increase at 8,817 residents, in a parish whose current population is a fraction of that.

The affordable housing argument

This is the part that was contested, and the documents set it out plainly.

Policy requires 33% affordable housing. Taylor Wimpey’s original submission offered 10%, about 385 units. The council did not simply accept that: it appointed an independent viability assessor and a quantity surveyor to review the applicant’s figures, and there were five rounds of viability documents between October 2024 and November 2025.

The council’s officers concluded that “the site faces a challenge with regard to viability and that this will impact the level of affordable housing that can be secured at this time”. The costs they identify are front-loaded and large: a new primary electricity substation, a new sewer to Whitlingham Water Recycling Centre or an on-site treatment works, strengthening and burying a high-pressure gas main, highway works, nutrient neutrality mitigation, recreation avoidance mitigation, the Future Homes Standard and the Building Safety Levy.

The position recorded by the housing team after that process was 12% affordable housing with a 50:50 tenure split between rent and affordable home ownership. The committee’s resolution requires a Section 106 agreement covering affordable housing with a viability review and clawback mechanism, which is the device that lets the council claw back more affordable homes later if the scheme turns out more profitable than modelled over a long build-out.

Approval was also made conditional on resolving habitat regulations matters with Natural England, including nutrient neutrality and recreational impact mitigation, and on sorting out the highway connection to Mackintosh Road.

What it means for you: nothing is being built yet. This is outline consent with almost everything reserved, and it is conditional on Natural England signing off. Reserved matters, phasing and the first spades are years of process away. But the principle is now settled, and Rackheath’s current median sold price of £330,000 sits in a parish that is scheduled to roughly quintuple.

What the committee is doing next

The Broadland Planning Committee meeting scheduled for 12 August 2026 has been cancelled. The next scheduled meeting is 9 September 2026 at the Horizon Centre, Peachman Way, Norwich.

The last meeting, on 15 July 2026, dealt with three items: reserved matters for four dwellings at Blofield (20200077), an application at Boundary House in Felthorpe (2026/0153/F), and a Section 106 variation at Racecourse Plantation, Thorpe St Andrew (20260666S106A). Agendas, reports and minutes are all published in advance on the council’s committee pages.

The council that decides this is being abolished

On 25 March 2026 the Government announced that Norfolk’s eight existing councils will be abolished by April 2028 and replaced with three unitary authorities: Greater Norwich, East Norfolk and West Norfolk (Norwich City Council).

Broadland does not survive that. The district is to be divided between Greater Norwich and East Norfolk, which means the line will run somewhere between the Norwich-fringe parishes and the Broads villages. Broadland District Council itself voted for the three-unitary model on 20 March 2025, and shadow authority elections are proposed for April or May 2027 (Broadland District Council on LGR).

For planning, the practical questions are which authority inherits the Greater Norwich Local Plan, which one determines applications in a given village, and what happens to a permission like North Rackheath that will still be building out in the 2040s. Those answers are not published yet. We will report them from the documents when they are.

How to have a say

Broadland’s planning register is at info.southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk/online-applications, where you can search by address, view a weekly list of newly validated applications, and comment on anything still open. Note that it is a joint portal shared with South Norfolk, so roughly half the entries in any weekly list are not in Broadland at all. Check the parish before you assume a scheme is local.

Committee agendas and minutes are at southnorfolkandbroadland.moderngov.co.uk, published several days ahead of each meeting.

Frequently asked questions

How many homes are being built in Broadland?

The Greater Norwich Local Plan provides for 45,041 homes across Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk between 2018 and 2038, against a requirement of 40,541. Broadland’s share of the current five-year forecast is 3,931 homes.

Has the Rackheath development been approved?

Yes. Broadland Planning Committee approved up to 3,850 homes at North Rackheath unanimously on 25 February 2026 (application 2022/0663, Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd and Manor Farm Rackheath Ltd). It is outline consent with most matters reserved, and it is conditional on resolving habitat regulations issues with Natural England.

Why is Rackheath only getting 12% affordable housing?

Policy requires 33%. The developer submitted a viability case, the council appointed an independent viability assessor and a quantity surveyor to test it, and officers accepted that high early infrastructure costs, including a substation, a new sewer and burying a gas main, limit what the site can carry. The agreed position was 12% with a 50:50 tenure split, with a viability review and clawback mechanism built into the Section 106.

Does Broadland have a five-year housing land supply?

No. At 1 April 2025 Greater Norwich could demonstrate 4.85 years, a shortfall of 299 homes against the five-year requirement of 10,187. Nutrient neutrality delays are the main published reason.

What is nutrient neutrality and why does it matter here?

It is the requirement that new development adds no extra nitrogen or phosphorus to protected water catchments, which in Broadland means the Broads rivers. It has delayed permissions across Greater Norwich and cut the five-year housing forecast by 2,704 homes, or 21%. The councils have set up Norfolk Environmental Credits to sell mitigation.

When is the next Broadland planning committee?

9 September 2026. The meeting scheduled for 12 August 2026 was cancelled.

What happens to Broadland District Council in 2028?

It is abolished. Norfolk’s eight councils are replaced by three unitary authorities from April 2028, and Broadland is split between the new Greater Norwich and East Norfolk councils. Shadow elections are proposed for April or May 2027.

Sources

Planning positions change with every committee and every monitoring update. Figures here were checked against the published documents on 9 August 2026.