Neighbourhood Development Plan Committee Annual Report April 2025

After public consultation early last year, the committee worked on amending policies to take
into account the views of those who contributed to the consultation. In July and August 2024,
we worked with our consultants, Andrea Long and Rachel Leggett to do this.
Our consultants have worked to create a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) that is
concise and accessible. We have built on the original (and still current) NDP but have reordered
the contents and are consolidating the supporting text to the policies so that it is not too long.
Some members of the group have also been working on the Design Code, again taking into
account the views from the public consultation.
In December 2024, the government released a new National Planning Policy Framework which
revealed mandatory housing targets for Babergh – 775 new dwellings per year for the next 20
years. This is an 86% rise on the previous target and will have an impact on the site allocations
of our NDP. Babergh and Mid-Suffolk DC decided to review its Joint Local Plan which is on
target for adoption in 2029. The decision to review the JLP, along with Local Government
Reorganisation make the progress of our NDP more complicated and could slow down the
process. However, we expect and hope that the NDP will be approved and in place by the end
of 2026.
New Housing Figures
In March Babergh provided rough indicative figures for each parish – East Bergholt’s figure is 220
new houses in the next 20 years. This figure will change once Babergh has formulated its spatial
strategy. There is also the possibility that Ipswich will declare an ‘unmet need’ for housing. The
District Council has a duty to co-operate with Ipswich and may be required to provide some of
Ipswich’s housing target. This gives the NDP committee a significant challenge. Work was
unavoidably paused while we awaited some sort of indication of housing numbers. We will
have to consult again on new site allocations. Our next meeting is on 30 April and we aim to
provide a new timetable for the NDP at that time.
Local Government Reorganisation
The other challenge for our NDP is local government reorganisation. It is possible that East
Bergholt will be placed in a unitary authority with Ipswich. This may place development
pressure on our parish due to our proximity to Ipswich. It is essential that our NDP is robust and
unambiguous in order that the residents of East Bergholt can shape the future of the village in
the face of these considerable challenges.
Conservation Area
Work also began on reviewing and extending the Conservation Area in East Bergholt. We
secured agreement from Babergh District Council that they would pay half the fees of a
specialist consultant to appraise the area. We appointed Heritage Collective to carry out the
appraisal. They produced our Heritage Landscape Study in 2020. The consultant, has visited
the village and is currently preparing the appraisal. It will be important to consult the village on
this appraisal.
Sallie Davies. Chair Neighbourhood Development Plan Committee