PLANNING IN THE BROADS

Martin Thirkettle and Tim Jickells

A disused wind pump that is vulnerable to the flooding accompanying climate warming in the flat landscape of Halvergate marshes. Credit: Broads Authority Water Mills and Marsh project.

Since the Broads Act came into force in 1988, planning law related to the Broads has

consistently held the same significance as that in National Parks, even though the Authority

is a Special Statutory Authority and not established under National Park legislation.

Planning has continually adapted to the unique circumstances of the Broads and must

continue to do so in today’s era of rapid population growth and climate change.

For nearly twenty years, planning work encompassing development control and enforcement

was carried out by officers at the six constituent District Councils, while the Broads Authority

played a crucial coordination role in ensuring that decisions and reports to the Planning

Committee were submitted on time and enforced throughout the executive area. Much

checking and re-checking were necessary to guarantee that policies were appropriately

applied to decision-making, and this same approach was utilised in producing the first

Broads Local Plan. However, it would not have been completed without contracting most of

the work to an external policy planner.

In 2007, it was agreed that planning would be more efficient if the Authority incorporated its

entire planning function in-house. A team specialising in the nuances of Broads planning

gradually emerged, gaining expertise through close cooperation with colleagues involved in

conservation, navigation, and recreation. The effectiveness of this decision is evidenced by

the Authority’s performance as the best (or jointly best) National Park Planning Authority,

according to Government statistics, and by recently achieving 17 th position out of 347

planning authorities across the country.

The Broads Society contributes to the planning system by commenting on applications from

the Broads and neighbouring districts, as well as on wider policy consultations regarding

national planning matters, Local Plans, and Neighbourhood Plans. Changes to Levelling Up

legislation in 2023 strengthened Broads planning by requiring all public organisations

operating within the Broads or affecting the area not only to “have regard to” the purposes of

the Broads, as in the past, but also to “further” those interests. In February of this year, the

Campaign for National Parks successfully tested the new statutory duty in court, compelling

the government to acknowledge that it had acted illegally when it approved a development in

Dedham Vale National Landscape.

The government’s modifications to planning policy continue to place Local Plans at the

centre of the process, while the Broads Local Plan establishes the local planning policy

against which all planning applications are assessed. Local Plans are reviewed every five

years, with the one for the Broads Executive Area currently in the final stages of this review

cycle. Following extensive consultation, including feedback from the Broads Society, a large-

scale public consultation (Regulation 19) is scheduled to take place this summer.

Mutton's Mill at Halvergate has been extensively renovated as part of the Broads Authority's Water, Mills and Marshes Project, and members of the Broads Society enjoyed a visit there in 2024, but many other mills are not so fortunate. Credit: Mark Collins

Two interrelated large-scale challenges are currently impacting planning. The first is the

effect of climate change on the broader landscape, some consequences of which are

already being felt. The Broadland Futures Initiative has predicted a warmer climate for the

Broads, featuring wetter winters and drier summers, necessitating significant planning

changes in areas vulnerable to flooding from rainfall or sea-level rise or at risk from coastal

erosion. The existing planning system is designed to respond to applications for changes at

specific sites, but climate warming sharply underscores the broader issue of strategic

planning for land use change. This level of land use reorganisation presents a political

challenge that we are only beginning to confront. We must now actively plan for, rather than

merely react to, events driven by climate change.

The second question concerns the care of the many heritage buildings in the Broads.

Occupied historic houses will be maintained by their owners, but industrial heritage sites

such as windmills and pumps, which were built as functional entities without regard for their

long-term preservation, present a more significant challenge. Now, at over a hundred years

old, these sites require active upkeep to remain the icons of the Broads that they have

become. However, their isolated locations in increasingly flood-prone areas make it difficult

to develop alternative uses for them. Generating the resources needed to maintain the

numerous windmills and pumping houses scattered across the Broads has become a

problem, adding to the existing difficulties in preserving many historic Broads churches.

Martin Thirkettle was Planning Coordinator at the Broads Authority from 1991-2005 and now

volunteers as a member of the Broads Society’s Planning Committee. Tim Jickells OBE is an

Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia and chairs the Broads

Authority’s Planning Committee. This blog summarises discussions at the Broads Society Supper held

on 19 March 2025.