The pretty village dates back to Roman times (Image: Google)
An Essex-based developer has been ordered to take down a set of wrought iron gates at the entrance of a housing estate in Docking, Norfolk, after they were dubbed a “hideous blot on the landscape” by residents.
Elemento Group has successfully built a 30-home estate in the ancient parish, but the gates they erected at its entrance were deemed by the council to be “overly ornate and ostentatious”.
They have been ordered to disassemble the structure and replace it with something that reflects “the simple domestic nature” of the village, which traces its origins back to times.
It will be a cause for celebration among incensed locals, one of whom slammed the gates as “screamingly out of character with the village”.
Others said they were “over the top”, “hideous”, “a blot on the landscape” and evidence of “Vulgar taste [coming] to Norfolk”.
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“The gates to Docking Hall, the historic landowners in the village … are far less grand,” another person wrote, adding that the eye-catching entrance was at odds with the plan’s intention to “blend in with the existing character” of the area.
In an enforcement notice delivered to the developer this week, a spokesperson for the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk said: “The gates, by virtue of their overly ornate and ostentatious character, height and detailing, do not follow the simple, domestic nature of the architectural form of the locality and conservation area.”
“[They) would therefore appear incongruous in their setting, neither preserving nor enhancing the character or appearance of the conservation area,” they added, concluding that the resultant visual harm would outweigh any public benefit.
The Elemento Group told local newspaper the Eastern Daily Press that it was planning to appeal the decision.
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The gates drew local ire for their “ostentatious” appearance (Image: Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk)
Parts of Docking, which sits in a northwest pocket of Norfolk, close to the seaside resorts of Heacham and Huntstanton, date back to the Roman period, with coins and jewellery found in local fields indicating it was once home to a classical villa.
The pretty countryside village is also perched on one of the county’s highest points – earning a pre-18th century nickname of Dry Docking before water was raised by a well, a tradition that continued until it was piped in for locals in the 1930s.
Alongside its historical intrigue, the hamlet is a great port of call for day-trippers on their way to the coast, with a quintessential village pub, a church boasting a 14th century chancel and a weekly market flogging local produce including fruit, vegetables and baked goods.