VILLAGE CONFINES

Northamptonshire County Council’s Structure Plan, prepared with regard to national and regional needs for housing, requires the South Northants District to provide for further residential development in its Local Plan. The current Local Plan states in Paragraph 2.14:

With the exception of housing to meet the growth of Northampton, most of the
residual allocation for the District will be met in Towcester and Brackley. In
order to maintain the special character of the District's villages, the housing
policies for the Rural Areas are still generally of a restrictive nature. In
reflection of this the Council has determined the physical extent of both the
Limited Development Villages and the Restricted Infill Villages by delineating
`Village Confines' (shown in Chapter 13). For the purposes of this policy
"village confines" will be taken to mean that area of the village defined by the
existing main built up area but excluding those peripheral buildings such as free
- standing individual or groups of dwellings, nearby farm buildings or other
structures which are not closely related thereto. Gardens, or former gardens,
within the curtilage of dwelling houses, will not necessarily be assumed to fall
within the existing confines of the village. Outside these lines, all land,
including the six Restraint Villages and land between the confines and the line
of any bypass, is regarded as being within the Open Countryside*.

*Note: Permission for development in Open Countryside i.e. outside the village confines, will only be granted in exceptional circumstances.

Sulgrave is designated as a Restricted Infill Village in the Local Plan. See here for the “Village Confines” map.

The policy for Restricted Infill Villages is set out in Paragraph 2.20 of the Local Plan as follows:

2.20 Development in the majority of the remaining villages (Restricted Infill
Villages) is governed by the Structure Plan Policy RES6. Some 76 villages in
South Northamptonshire fall into this category. Residential development in the
Restricted Infill Villages will include infilling, small scale groups or the
conversion of redundant buildings. Infilling can be defined as the development
of a small gap in an otherwise built up frontage. In determining what constitutes
`small scale groups' for the purposes of this policy, the Council will not attempt
to impose an upper limit on the number of dwelling units, but will judge each
case on its merits with particular regard to:

(i) the scale of the proposal in relation to the character of the adjacent area;

(ii) the scale of the proposal in relation to the size of the village, bearing in
mind the need to maintain its environmental character and maintain a
balanced housing stock;

(iii) the ability of the village to cope with any additional population;

(iv) the impact of the proposal on local infrastructure and services;

(v) whether the proposal will lead to the incremental development of a
larger site.

To access the South Northants Council’s Local Plan in full, click here.