A Norfolk council has voted to proceed with a key document that sets out where nearly 9,500 homes can be built over the next 20 years despite concerns about some of the sites.

North Norfolk District Council is under pressure to get its new Local Plan, which sets out the location of where new development can take place, approved by government officials in just six months.

It follows the Planning Inspectorate - the department that presides over planning matters - telling the authority it needs to accommodate for an extra 1,500 homes in order to meet increased targets for house building.

The view from the window of one of the new hotel rooms at the Crown at Fakenham of the market.The view from the window of one of the new hotel rooms at the Crown at Fakenham of the market. (Image: Denise Bradley)

To achieve this, the number of homes earmarked for small villages has doubled from 452 to 873.

At a cabinet meeting this week, members agreed to proceed with the new action plan, which will now be subjected to a public consultation in the coming weeks.

Andrew Brown, cabinet member for planning, warned that failing to do so would leave the council with a £2.5m blackhole due to needing to find the money to create a new local plan.

However, he doubted they would be able to achieve the new targets.

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An aerial view of Weybourne, which is earmarked for 20 new homesAn aerial view of Weybourne, which is earmarked for 20 new homes (Image: Mike Page)

"It is a sobering statistic that over a 24-year period between 2000 to 2024, we managed on average to build just under 400 homes per year, now we need to build 573," he said.

"I will let you draw your own conclusions as to whether this is achievable."

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Lucy Shires, a North Walsham councillor and cabinet member for finance, highlighted that plans to build 2,480 homes in North Walsham are causing lots of concerns about road safety.

But she said that NNDC is being "forced into a position where we have little choice."

She urged people to share their views in the forthcoming consultation, in order to have their opinions presented to the Planning Inspectorate.