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Ambitious new climate change targets from the UK government have cast doubt on plans to build 50,000 homes in Norfolk.
On Tuesday the government unveiled plans to toughen targets on greenhouse gas emissions, with carbon dioxide to be cut by 78pc by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.
Michael Rayner of the countryside charity Campaign to Protect Rural England Norfolk (CPRE) has argued the emissions targets would not fit in with the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP).
The GNLP is a blueprint for where tens of thousands of homes could be built in Norwich, Broadland and South Norfolk over the next two decades, with a focus on building in and around the city and along the A11.
The plan considers where more than 49,000 homes could be built in Greater Norwich by 2038.
And the draft of the plan has now been published, with the public able to have its say.
Inclusion in the plan does not mean homes will definitely be built, but it does make it more likely that suitable applications will secure planning permission.
Shaun Vincent, leader of Broadland District Council and chairman of the Greater Norwich Development Partnership.
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Shaun Vincent, chairman of the Greater Norwich Development Partnership, made up of Norwich, South Norfolk, Broadland councils and Norfolk County Council, said: Greater Norwich is a great place to live, work and invest.
There were fears that Norfolk s countryside would be damaged by government housing demands.
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Fears more of Norfolk’s countryside could be lost because of a change in how the government estimates need for new homes look to have receded.
The government has rowed back on changes to an algorithm which determines how many new homes each area needs.
In Norfolk, that change would have meant the current target to build 4,116 homes a year would increase by just over 45pc to 5,969 new homes - an increase of 1,858 homes each year.
And it threw up anomalies, such as an increase of more than 105pc expected in South Norfolk, where the 893 homes per year target would soar to 1,832, while targets in Norwich would fall.