Councillors have unanimously voted to grant permission once more to a proposed 23 new homes in the Breckland village of Shipdham, following new concerns over the potential impact on river pollution.

The development, set to go up off Old Post Office Street, was approved by the district council’s planning committee in May last year.

Formal planning permission had been withheld until an agreement could be reached on how much money the developer should give to the authority to help pay for improvements to local open spaces, libraries and schools.

But the plan had to be looked at again, partly because of ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules introduced upon the advice of Natural England earlier this year.

The rules mean no new homes can be built in the catchment area of the River Wensum and the Broads, until measures can be devised to counter the homes’ polluting impact on those waterways.

Formal permission for the 23 homes will be granted once Norfolk’s local councils have together found a way of putting those measures in place.