ROYDON
Roydon's DDNP Steering Group representatives: Paul Curson (top), Jane Jennifer and Trevor Ault
Welcome to Roydon's DDNP site. This is the page where we share information and consultation results, and keep you updated on the progress of the Plan and how it impacts on our village. If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact us through the Roydon Parish Council website, or email the DDNP at
Why is Roydon one of the DDNP parishes?
Putting together a Neighbourhood Plan is not a short, easy or inexpensive task and when it was suggested that we might join with Diss and neighbouring parishes to make a joint Plan for the whole area, Roydon Parish Council decided at its March 2017 meeting to join the Plan. This was endorsed unanimously by the residents present at the May 2017 Annual Parish Meeting. This joint plan was called the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan (DDNP).
It has been a long journey, with a few hiccups along the way, but the last two years have seen a renewed focus and energy and the end is now in sight! We hope to put the final Plan to the community to seek its support later this year.
From Roydon's point of view, what will be in the Plan?
Site Allocation:
Having been informed, by council departments at a higher level than us, that each parish would have to accommodate a specific number of new dwellings in the lifetime of the Plan (up to 2038), the DDNP steering group chose to allocate sites for development in each parish rather than have them imposed on us by developers and higher authorities.
In our two consultations during 2020, (the results can be viewed further down this page), Roydon chose to make our 'Roydon village' allocation of @25 dwellings on just one site, to the south of Roydon Primary School, pictured left.
Although it nibbled into the remaining green space between Roydon and Diss, residents chose this as the best option on offer. Although narrowed, there will remain a green space between the Roydon and Diss settlement boundaries.
If we didn’t choose to allocate within the DDNP, developers would have more of a free hand to propose sites which suited them but not necessarily the community. In addition, numbers of houses could substantially exceed the current allocation for the village.
Local Green Spaces (LGS):
Roydon initially proposed 17 LGS and these gained good support from residents. However, we recognised that this was too long a list to be accepted by the Examiner of the DDNP (a stage that the Plan has yet to go through). Although we cherish our LGS, whether they be children's play areas or stretches of woodland, we knew we had to reduce the list to those areas that were of especial importance as green spaces and which had least protection and recognition as valued green spaces in the parish. We have settled on a final list of 8 LGS which we hope everyone will support.
Non-designated Heritage Assets (NDHAs):
Roydon has several listed buildings, but it also has buildings, features and settings which are special in some way: they have historical and/ or architectural interest, or they are valued by the community as part of the village landscape.
Much investigation and consultation led to our final list of NDHAs.
Key Views:
A significant feature of Roydon is its proximity to countryside - the Waveney Valley to the south, open arable farmland to the north and west, a large area of farmed meadowland between Baynards Lane/ Swamp Lane and Snow Street, and the registered, ecologically rich common land of Brewers Green.
Our Key Views, supported in the summer 2020 consultation, are views across all of these areas.
Ecological Corridors:
Recent research has recognised that areas of species-rich land (such as Roydon Fen) are not enough by themselves to begin the process of reversing the present worrying decline in biodiversity across the country. They need to be linked up by a wide network of “ecological corridors” along which lie the varied habitats needed for the movement and spread of plants and all forms of wildlife, especially invertebrates and pollinators.
In Roydon we have devised a network that joins together Roydon Fen, Quaker Wood, Brewers Green, Baynards Green and Wortham Ling, and leads out to the adjoining parishes. Some of these routes are maintained for ecological richness by the parish council, for example Roydon Loke, Swamp Lane, the High Road verges opposite the church, and Millway Green (the very wide verge at the south west end of Shelfanger Road) - and we are working towards the improvement of some of the other routes.
What influence will the DDNP have?
By including all these different aspects within the DDNP, they will be afforded a degree of protection with regard to future development. The Plan must be, by law, taken into account by higher authorities when considering development issues.
The final stage of the Plan will be ratification by the community through a referendum, in which 50% of those who vote need to agree to its contents. We hope that all residents will see the value of Roydon having the protection of the DDNP and feel able to support the Plan.
Above is pictured the proposed site DDNP12, South of Roydon Primary School, for approximately 25 dwellings.
Retaining the local identity of the different communities within the DDNP is important, and the protection of the Roydon Gap, map above, is an example of where the Plan seeks to minimise the impact of future development on this buffer between Roydon and Diss.
The Plan seeks to protect views which have been identified as important by the local community
Community Consultation 2020
Two 'Issues & Options' consultation surveys have taken place across the DDNP area, the first, larger, consultation ran from July/Aug 2020 and the second shorter follow up ran from Nov/Dec. We'd like to thank everyone from Roydon who took part.
The results of the first consultation, for Roydon, are available to view in the blue box below.
The results of the second consultation can be viewed here.
Issues & Options (1) Consultation Feedback
Ensuring the local community was aware of the surveys has been a real challenge during the lockdown. Steering group representatives decided to hand deliver information to every household in the village to make sure everyone could take part in the consultation.
Archives - please note, this information is included for reference only, and may have been superseded by results of the community consultations which subsequently took place during 2020.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ AN IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN FOR ROYDON RESIDENTS. https://www.ddnp.info/latest-updates
In addition to a section on the proposed Site Allocation, (please read the clarification above), there are sections on proposed Local Green Spaces, Key Viewpoints, non-designated Heritage Assets, and a proposal to protect the remaining open land between Roydon and the built up area of Diss which includes part of Roydon.
Local Green Space (Map 1)
Of the seventeen proposed Local Green Spaces, we've proposed all five of our play areas in the parish and the allotment sites at Louie's Lane and Snow Street and various stretches of woodland walking (eg between Swamp Lane and Hose Avenue, and between the rugby club pitch and Baynards Lane) which we feel are well used and loved by our community and we want you to say whether or not you agree with our proposals.
Note: Brewers Green and Roydon Fen, although hugely valued local green spaces, are not included as they are already designated Common Land, which gives them sufficient protection without being recognised as Local Green Spaces
Key Viewpoints (Map 2)
Our proposed Key Viewpoints aim to protect Roydon's special qualities and outlooks.
Non-Designated Heritage Assets (Map 3)
Our non-designated Heritage Assets (ie non-Listed buildings) include the wonderful Tower House on High Road and what was the Old Mill House at 113 Shelfanger Road, and many more.
Roydon Gap between the village and Diss (Map 4)
And there's the section on our proposal to protect the remaining gap of open land between Roydon and the built up area of Diss which includes part of Roydon.
We welcome and encourage your feedback on all of this, including your thoughts and opinions about the proposed Site Allocation (Map 5). The best way to do this is to complete the survey by clicking on the Issues & Options tab in the top menu.
Thank you
Paul Curson and Jane Jennifer
Roydon Steering Group representatives DDNP
Diss & District Neighbourhood plan
Map 1: Local Green Space identified in the DDNP
Map 3: Non-designated heritage assets in Roydon
Map 2: Key viewpoints in Roydon identified in the DDNP
Map 4: Protecting the gap between Roydon and Diss
Map 5: PROPOSED site allocation
