Plans for a link road to run through a 291-home development have been approved by councillors, despite concerns about its “race-track” appearance.
The homes are set to go up on the southern edge of Toftwood in Dereham, with the link road running from Shipdham Road (the A1075), across Westfield Road and up through to Westfield Lane.
A new three-arm roundabout junction will meanwhile create an entrance into the development from Shipdham Road.
The 291 homes received permission in principle in 2018 and again in 2020, with councillors now in the process of examining the project’s finer details.
At a meeting of Breckland Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, December 13, Dereham’s town clerk Tony Needham said he was concerned about the road’s layout.
“Its design is akin to a rat-run,” he said.
“Its purpose is to divert volumes of traffic through the middle of a residential area.
“At busy times, I’ve no doubt that the design will slow cars down.
“But in the evenings and at night, the bends won’t act as traffic-calming - they’ll become a challenge to boy-racers and girl-racers.
“The road looks like a race-track - at night, I fear it will become a race-track.”
Terry Harper, speaking on behalf of the applicant, Glavenhill, said the plans were “trying to achieve a link road which will help relieve the pressure to the south of the town”.
He added: “We do not want a long, straight road for people to roar along, you have to have bends in it to slow people down.
“Whether boy-racers come here or - I’m a Yarmouth boy - whether boy-racers are on Yarmouth seafront, I’m afraid none of us, whatever the road layout, can control that.”
“But what we can control is a 30mph bendy road, not a 50mph straight road.”
Mr Needham also asked for a guarantee that the development’s cycle infrastructure will link in with the rest of the town, including with National Cycle Route 13, which starts in Dereham and ends at Tower Bridge in London.
Mr Harper said that was not a matter for this stage of the application process, but said: “We’ll do the right thing.”
Councillor Linda Monument said she hoped the proposed roundabout junction would be “tempting” rather than “prohibitive” for cyclists to use.
A further 89 homes, in addition to the 291, was proposed in September, and a decision in principle on those is due within days.
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