THE OLD RECTORY County School, Bintree, Dereham, Norfolk, NR20 5LE Data via plota.co.uk

PL/2026/0460/TCA - TCA Application for trees in a conservation area Approved

Proposal

At the rear of the house there is an avenue of American walnut trees which it is proposed to thin down to the best trees. This will involve removing every other tree to achieve a better spacing and allow the proper development of the canopies of the remaining trees. The trees are young to early mature with a height of 8 or 9 metres. To the west of the house is a paddock and on the southern edge of this is a line of trees incuding alder and prunus spp. These are younger trees that have been suppressed by the woodland trees to the south and have one sided canopies overhanging the paddock. It is proposed to thin these trees down to the better stems which will involve removing 3 or 4 stems. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
week of 30 Mar 2026
✓
Approved
week of 4 May 2026

Approved in the week of 4 May 2026 · Delegated decision · Last checked 2 Oct 2026

Documents 4

Application forms 1

PDF Commenter’s name hidden Show Application Forms/Certificates (public/redacted) · 31 Mar 2026 View ↗

All documents on the council site ↗

Site constraints 8

Nutrient neutrality catchment: River Wensum SAC
New homes and overnight accommodation must show nutrient neutrality before approval.
Natural England advice: extra wastewater in these catchments harms protected habitats, so schemes must offset their nutrient load, usually through credits.
North Elmham conservation area
Demolition needs planning permission and permitted development is restricted.
The council must give weight to preserving or enhancing the area's character and appearance. Not every council has published its boundaries as open data.
Council document ↗
Agricultural land, grade 2
Best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. A site survey can differ.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Special area of conservation about 224 m away: River Wensum
Work nearby can need a habitats assessment.
Harm to a protected site is only accepted where there is no alternative and an overriding public interest.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
SSSI about 224 m away: River Wensum SSSI; Radon affected area, class 2; Priority habitat about 23 m away: Deciduous woodland.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

Sales history 3

Last sold for £1,460,000 in March 2021. Detached house, freehold.

16 March 2021£1,460,000
5 October 2001£485,000
23 October 1997£190,000

Sale prices from HM Land Registry's price paid record, matched to this application by its address.

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Important details

Council
Breckland
Application type
TCA Application for trees in a conservation area
Postcode
NR20 5LE
Received
week of 30 Mar 2026
Validated
30 Mar 2026
Ward
Upper Wensum
Parish
Bintree
Case officer
Show
Target decision
11 May 2026
Decision
Tree Work Application (CA) - No Objection
Decision date
week of 4 May 2026
Decision level
Delegated decision
Applicant
Show
Agent
Norfolk Woods and Hedges Ltd

Consultation & key dates

Statutory expiry
11 May 2026
Breckland
Planning Authority Score
8.6/10
Excellent
#14 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Other decisions

Breckland is faster than most councils at deciding householder applications, ranking #32 out of 296. Householder applications are more likely to be approved here than most councils, with a 98% approval rate vs 90% nationally.

More permissive than most councils
98% approved vs 90% nationally
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Breckland decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
84%
Overall approval rate
Below avg (87%) #216 of 296
98%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #12 of 296
81%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #32 of 296
34%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #84 of 296
54%
Minor dwellings approved
178 decided (1-9 homes)
88%
Major dwellings approved
17 decided (10+ homes)
801
Total decisions
128 refused in the year to March 2026

Sale prices: Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.