The site has outline planning permission for 177 new homes which approves the proposed accesses from Mallard Road and Woodpecker Drive, but a further application (called a Reserved Matters application) is required to approve details of the layout, landscaping and design of the homes.
A reserved matters application was submitted by Tesni Properties Limited to Breckland Council a few years ago and we are now working with Tesni on revised proposals that respond to feedback received to this application.
Our vision is to create a high quality, sustainable and sympathetic extension to the town that respects local character and that offers a range of attractive housing options. The proposal is for 100% affordable housing of which 106 (60%) of the homes would be provided for Social Rent and 71 (40%) as Shared Ownership properties.
The proposed homes are a mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes.
Key changes from the previously submitted design include a reduction in the height of the proposed dwellings to 2-storey’s maximum, the linking together of proposed open spaces and the provision of a wide area of landscaping to the south-western edge of the site. The scheme would provide energy efficient homes in a sensitive landscape setting.
In designing the revised proposals, we have had discussions with Breckland Council, Watton Town Council and Norfolk County Council as the highways and Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFA).
In accordance with the section 106 legal agreement for the outline planning permission, financial contribution will be provided to local schools, healthcare provision and libraries.
Thank you for taking the time to look at our proposals. This consultation is intended to provide an opportunity for feedback ahead of the revised proposals being submitted to Breckland Council. The proposed plans will be finalised following this consultation consultation and submitted in support of the current Reserved Matters application to approve details of the layout, landscaping and design of the homes. There will be a further opportunity to comment on the proposals once this application is submitted.
This website provides a description of the proposed development and key technical considerations.
Orbit is a not for profit organisation dedicated to delivering high quality, affordable homes and creating thriving, sustainable communities. As a registered provider of affordable housing, Orbit manages a portfolio of quality, safe and affordable homes for over 100,000 customers, and builds around 1,000 new homes each year, ensuring they are safe, sustainable and designed to support long term wellbeing.
In everything it does, Orbit is committed to improving the long term prospects of society, with a strong focus on enhancing people’s wellbeing by safeguarding the environment, supporting community initiatives, and embedding sustainable working practices.
Orbit is one of the UK’s leading developers of affordable homes for rent and shared ownership. It adopts a tenure blind approach to design, layout and specification, ensuring every customer enjoys the same quality experience, regardless of how they access their home. Developments range from small schemes in rural villages to large regeneration projects across the Midlands, East and the South East.
The organisation delivers homes of all sizes—from one bedroom apartments to large family houses—and its strategic partnership with Homes England supports its ambition to deliver 7,000 new and regenerated homes by 2030. Mixed tenure developments help create balanced and sustainable communities.
As a socially driven, commercially minded organisation, Orbit reinvests its profits into community services, local support initiatives and the enhancement of neighbourhoods. Customers purchasing market sale or shared ownership homes contribute directly to improving thousands of lives across the UK.
Customer service is a central priority. Orbit’s trained Sales Consultants guide buyers through every step of the process, and a dedicated Customer Care team provides support after move in. Orbit has been awarded the Home Builders Federation’s 5 Star Housebuilder accolade for two consecutive years and the Gold Customer Satisfaction Award from In house Research for nine years, with over 95% of customers in 2025 recommending Orbit.
All homes meet sector leading standards, including the RoSPA Safer by Design Gold Standard, ensuring exceptional safety, specification and design across all tenures.
In preparing revised proposals for the site, we have reviewed the comments received to the Reserved Matters application and sought to make positive changes to the design.
This page shows the previous proposals to explain the feedback received and changes made.
The scheme has been designed to encourage a safe and vibrant new community.
The proposal will be respectful to the existing form, scale and character of its location and be an appropriate response to its edge-of-settlement context utilising robust, high quality, and locally suitable materials with a mix of contextually sympathetic house designs that respect the existing townscape, with a focus on:
Character areas - carefull consideration has been given to the overall aesthetics of the scheme to integrate the development into the existing neighbourhoods and create areas of local interest across the site.
Creating a network of green corridors - create strong and attractive street frontages encouraging community and permeability through streets and routes that are well overlooked and pedestrian orientated, including cycle routes to the wider community.
The proposed materials used across the scheme will be a mixture of red and buff bricks coupled with red and grey pantile roofs all of which are in keeping with the surrounding area.
Detailed brickwork features will be utilised across the development to help provide visual interest and offer a gentle contemporary aesthetic.
Primary access will be provided from Mallard Road and Woodpecker Drive, with a spine road within the development linking the two. The two existing roads and footways will continue into the Site and be integrated into the proposed sites’ infrastructure that will be in accordance with Norfolk County Council’s criteria for adoption. A pedestrian link to the existing public open space area off Heron Way will link this area with a proposed green landscaped open space area within the development.
Off-site highway improvements that will be provided by the Developer will include the upgrade of local bus stops and shelters on Brandon Road.
On-site car and bicycle parking provision will be in accordance with Norfolk County Council’s parking standards (2022) and will include an Electric Vehicle (EV) charger on each plot. 34 Visitor parking spaces will be provided in line with Norfolk County Council Highways Policy.
Whilst the site is located in Flood Zone 1 and at low risk of flooding, the proposed site layout recognises the ongoing and significant issues Watton has in some parts of the town as a result of surface water flooding following significant rain events and the design will therefore improve upon the current water management on the site via the provision of a suitably designed surface water management system for the site.
The proposal will capture surface water run-off on site, via a network of swales and filter margins which will treat and direct flows to a network of on-site attenuation basins which will hold water, prior to discharging it at a controlled and restricted lowest outfall rate, which will assist in reducing surface water runoff into the existing drainage ditch network in the local area in the extreme storm events by up to 75% compared to the existing situation.
The technical design submission will demonstrate that there are no obvious adverse environmental flood risk or drainage considerations arising from the proposed work and the development will not cause surface water flooding on site or elsewhere in the parish.
The landscape strategy seeks to create a high quality residential development set within a strong landscape framework. The site is surrounded by mature tree planting and dense understorey of scrub, providing a strong sense of enclosure, whilst maintaining some views out onto the rural landscape to the south west. There are two field boundary corridors of vegetation with mature hedgerow trees. These features will create a maturity to the landscape and break up the parcels of development to create a more intimate feel.
Tree lined avenues alongside staggered pockets of open space will create a strong landscaped approach. The pockets of open space will allow for large tree species, to reflect the hierarchy of the road and legibility through the site. The staggered pockets of open space will also allow for a more informal approach, to reflect the more rural edge setting.
Two play spaces will be located centrally within pockets of open space to provide on site equipped play facilities for the residents, in the most accessible locations. Corridors of open space will be provided around the site boundaries, to maintain the established walking routes and ensure the existing vegetation is sustainable maintained. These open spaces will balance the requirements of the drainage strategy and also include ecological enhancements to deliver the variety of habitats to support the existing wildlife and to encourage further wildlife.
This consultation is intended to provide an opportunity for feedback ahead of the revised proposals being submitted to Breckland Council. The proposed plans will be finalised following this consultation and submitted in support of the current Reserved Matters application to approve details of the layout, landscaping and design of the homes. There will be a further opportunity to comment on the proposals once this application is submitted.
We would be happy to receive your feedback to the proposals and you can do this by emailing your comments to info@arplanning.co.uk or by posting your comments to:
ARMSTRONG RIGG PLANNING
THE EXCHANGE
COLWORTH SCIENCE PARK
SHARNBROOK
BEDFORD
MK44 1LZ
Could comments please be made by Friday 20th February 2026.
