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Attleborough and Besthorpe: what the 110-home flood dispute means for buyers (2026)
Ashberry Strategic Land wants outline permission for 110 homes at Besthorpe. The land sits next to streets flooded in Storm Babet 2023. What Norfolk County Council found, and what a buyer thinking about Attleborough should actually check.
Ashberry Strategic Land wants outline planning permission for up to 110 homes south of Bickley Close in Besthorpe, the village immediately east of Attleborough. The site sits a short walk from streets that flooded in Storm Babet in October 2023. Norfolk County Council’s flood investigation put part of the blame on construction work at a different Ashberry-sibling development up the road. If you are thinking about buying in either Besthorpe or Attleborough, that history is now the argument that will decide whether Breckland grants the new homes.
Affordable share 25% · Distance to Attleborough town centre 1.5 km · Rail to Norwich 20 min · Homes flooded in Storm Babet 2023 c.130 · Breckland five-year housing land supply 2.82 years
What is being proposed
Ashberry Strategic Land (part of Bellway plc) is preparing an outline application to Breckland District Council for up to 110 dwellings on land south of Bickley Close and north of Silver Street, at the eastern edge of Besthorpe. Twenty-five per cent of the homes would be affordable. The developer describes the scheme as landscape-led, with green space, landscaping and biodiversity works alongside the housing.
The site lies about 1.5 kilometres east of Attleborough town centre. Attleborough railway station, on the Norwich to Cambridge line, is a 25-minute walk or a 7-minute cycle. Public pre-application consultation on the developer’s own site closed in early August 2026; a formal outline application is expected to follow, with a Statement of Community Engagement recording the feedback received. No planning reference has been issued yet.
George Freeman, Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk, has already written to the council co-signed by local councillors, describing the site as “fundamentally unsuitable for development on this scale”. Tony Watling, chairman of Besthorpe Parish Council, told the BBC that the field currently becomes saturated in heavy rain, and that if it is built on, “that water has to go somewhere”.
Why the flood history matters
Storm Babet crossed east Norfolk on 19 to 21 October 2023. In Attleborough and Besthorpe roughly 130 homes were flooded, mostly around Mill Lane and the network of streets that drain into Besthorpe Stream and the upper River Thet. Norfolk County Council, as Lead Local Flood Authority, published a formal investigation the following year: Attleborough and Besthorpe, Storm Babet, October 2023 (report reference FIR076 Part 1). It is available on the council’s flood investigations page.
The report reached an uncomfortable conclusion. One of the direct contributors to the flooding was a temporary construction road that had been laid across Besthorpe Stream during work on The Gables, a 165-home development on Norwich Road built by The Hill Group. The temporary crossing caused the stream to back up. Combined with silted, debris-filled culverts and high water downstream, the water then spilled into Mill Lane and nearby streets. The Gables site had itself been granted permission on appeal, over local objections about pre-existing flooding on the land.
That is the specific fact that has shaped the reception of the new Besthorpe proposal. Objectors are not making a theoretical argument about flood risk. They are pointing to a documented case where a very recent housing development next to the same stream network was found by the flood authority to have contributed to homes being flooded. The Bickley Close site sits adjacent to that same drainage catchment.
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The stalled works upstream
There is a separate strand to the story that a buyer needs to understand. In the wake of Storm Babet, plans were drawn up for natural flood management in the upper catchment of the River Thet, north of Attleborough. The idea is to slow water in the fields before it reaches the town’s culvert network. The scheme has stalled. According to BBC Norfolk reporting on 13 August 2026, further funding is needed to compensate a landowner so the works can be delivered in a way that is effective long term, and that funding has not been secured.
The practical effect is that Attleborough’s inland flood defence has not measurably improved since 2023. Anyone buying in the affected streets today is buying under the same drainage conditions that produced the 2023 flooding.
Why Breckland’s housing supply position is relevant
The other reason the Besthorpe application is being watched closely is that Breckland is currently in a weak position to refuse new housing sites. The council’s own December 2025 housing land supply assessment, referenced in the developer’s consultation material, puts deliverable supply at about 2.82 years against an annual requirement of 920 homes per year. National planning policy expects a rolling five-year supply. When a council cannot demonstrate one, the presumption in favour of sustainable development bites harder at appeal, and refusals become more vulnerable.
That does not mean flood risk is ignored. The National Planning Policy Framework treats flood risk as a distinct constraint, and outline applications on land with a recent, documented flooding contribution attract close scrutiny from the Environment Agency and the Lead Local Flood Authority. But the political weight around Breckland in 2026 is tilted toward finding sites, not toward refusing them.
What buyers in Attleborough and Besthorpe should actually check
None of this is a reason to write off the town. Attleborough remains one of the few Norfolk towns on a direct rail line to both Norwich and Cambridge, with an average house price below the county mean and a growing school offer. The point is that the flood question is now specific, and can be answered street by street.
Practical checks, before you offer on a house in either Attleborough or Besthorpe:
- Pull the Environment Agency long-term flood risk report for the specific postcode. It will show surface water, river and reservoir risk separately. Streets around Mill Lane, Norwich Road and the Besthorpe Stream corridor are the ones to be careful with.
- Ask the seller directly, in writing, whether the property flooded in Storm Babet in October 2023 or in any event since. This is a standard Property Information Form question (TA6, section 3).
- If it is a new-build on the Sustainable Urban Extension south-east of town, check the construction date. Homes finished after 2023 will have been built to the current national flood-resilience standards; pre-2023 estate homes may not have been.
- Read Norfolk County Council’s FIR076 Part 1 investigation before you commit. It is public and the maps identify affected streets.
- For lender and insurance purposes, get a flood insurance quote before exchange, not after. Flood Re covers most residential policies in the affected postcodes, but not all, and premiums vary widely by street.
- Take a broader look at flood risk across the county with our Norfolk Flood Risk buyer’s guide.
If you are already at offer stage on a Besthorpe or Attleborough property and the Bickley Close application looks likely to progress, the Environment Agency’s consultee response to the outline submission is worth reading when it is published. It will state formally whether the proposed surface water strategy is considered adequate for the downstream network, which is the same network that failed in 2023.
Common questions
Has planning permission been granted for the 110 homes at Besthorpe?
No. As of 14 August 2026 no formal planning application has been submitted. Ashberry Strategic Land has completed a public pre-application consultation and is preparing an outline application for Breckland District Council. Objections have been lodged with the council in advance of the formal submission.
Is Attleborough itself a flood-risk area to move to?
Parts of it are. The 2023 Storm Babet event affected a defined set of streets, mostly clustered around Mill Lane and the Besthorpe Stream corridor, and Norfolk County Council’s FIR076 Part 1 investigation names them. Much of the town, including the newer Sustainable Urban Extension estates to the south-east, was not affected. Flood risk is street-by-street, not town-wide.
Who is Ashberry Strategic Land and are they the same company as The Hill Group?
Ashberry Strategic Land is a division of Bellway plc, one of the UK’s largest housebuilders. The Hill Group, which built the 165-home Gables development on Norwich Road that Norfolk County Council’s investigation part-blamed for the 2023 flooding, is a separate company. The two developments are being brought forward by different firms; the shared factor is the Besthorpe Stream drainage catchment they both sit next to.
What is Breckland’s five-year housing land supply and why does it matter?
Breckland’s own most recent assessment puts deliverable supply at around 2.82 years against a requirement of 920 homes per year. National planning policy expects five. Below five, the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies more strongly, and refusing applications on grounds other than clearly demonstrated harm becomes harder to defend at appeal.
Has flood prevention upstream of Attleborough been completed?
No. Plans for natural flood management works in the upper catchment of the River Thet, north of Attleborough, have not yet been delivered. Further funding is needed to compensate a landowner so the works can be effective long term. Local drainage conditions today remain broadly what they were in October 2023.
Sources
- Ashberry Strategic Land, Besthorpe consultation site: consultation material, site plan and housing-land-supply figures, ashberrybesthorpeconsultation.co.uk (retrieved 14 August 2026).
- Norfolk County Council, Flood investigations page and FIR076 Part 1: Attleborough and Besthorpe, Storm Babet, October 2023, norfolk.gov.uk/article/38645/Flood-investigations.
- BBC News, “Critics say new homes unsuitable for flood-hit town”, 13 August 2026.
- Environment Agency, long-term flood risk information service, gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk.
- Breckland District Council, planning portal, breckland.gov.uk.
By Tom Fletcher. Verified against primary sources at publication (14 August 2026). We will update this piece when Ashberry submits a formal outline application, when Breckland’s consultee responses are published, and if funding for the upstream flood works is confirmed. If you have moved to Attleborough or Besthorpe and want to share what your street looked like in 2023, our contact address is info@norfolklivingguide.co.uk.
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