Neighbourhood Plan

The Parish Council has decided to prepare a neighbourhood plan for the parish. A neighbourhood plan is a community led framework for guiding the future development, regeneration and conservation of an area. Neighbourhood plans have a different status to other community led plans. Subject to a few basic conditions they will become legally binding and will become part of the development plan for the area. These conditions include:

• they must have approval through a local referendum
• they must take account of national planning policy
• they must conform generally to the needs for strategic development set out in existing Local Plans (previously the Local Development Framework)
• they cannot provide less development than existing Local Plans but could propose additional development if it was appropriate

West Suffolk Council has designated the Neighbourhood Area, the first formal stage in preparing the Plan, and now the Working Group will be going through the following main stages to prepare the Plan:

1 – Information gathering, including a residents’ survey

2 – Preparing the Plan

3 – Consulting on the Plan

4 – Submitting the Plan to West Suffolk Council

Once submitted to West Suffolk Council, the Plan will be the subject of further consultation and then an independent examination to see if it can proceed to a Parish Referendum.

If, at the Parish Referendum, the majority of residents on the electoral register vote in favour of the Plan, it will be used by West Suffolk Council when deciding future planning applications.

Next Meeting 25th July   at the Church Hall at 19:00

Next Meeting 22nd August 2022  at the Church Hall at 19:00

Next Meeting 22nd February at the Church Hall at 19:00

Next Meeting 30th March at the Church Hall at 19:00