East Bergholt Parish Council, Chairs Report, 8.4.26

Conservation Area Process
Therre have been 2 meetings with Babergh officers to discuss progress on the
Conservation Area Assessment. We have agreed that EBPC has completed the village
awareness raising consultation with a positive reception from residents. The
consultation has now necessarily ceased for the purdah period the county council
elections. The next stage will begin on 11 May, when Babergh will commence their
official consultation period. The time table for this consultation will be:

11 May: Babergh will write directly to all residents of the proposed new conservation
area to specifically ask for their questions and comments.
EBPC will advertise the opening of the consultation to all village residents inviting them
to send Babergh officers questions and comments
23 May: EBPC will host Babergh’s exhibition of the proposals for the proposed new
conservation area at the Lambe School from 10.00 – 14.00
Approx End May/begin June: consultation closes
21 July Babergh officers will aim to place final report on Conservation Area Assessment
on Babergh Council agenda for final decision.

Dedham: River Water meadow issues
I was invited by the chair of Deham PC to attend a virtual meeting of local councillors,
statutory body officers and interested parties to discuss the particular issues related to
the unofficial use of the water meadow below Dedham bridge as a picnic park and
“beach”. This tourism use does not have planning permission and is subject to 28 day
pa restriction. The meeting was very interesting in (a) learning about the topic itself and
(b) in learning just how Dedham PC has effectively marshalled all the local authorities,
including cross-border authorities, to assist them in dealing with the problems caused
by this unofficial use. The issue is if course relates to land in Suffolk (Stratford St Mary
parish) but mainly affects Dedham in terms of visitor nuisance, rubbish and parking
issues.
The issue hangs on how much volunteer effort it will take to monitor the 28 days use
allowed and upon how much evidence Babergh enforcement team will need to take
effective action.

Babergh Town and Parish Liaison meeting, 25/3/26
I have attached notes (see below) from an extensive and intensive meeting which
proved useful.

EBCLT
I have informed EB CLT that you have invited them to a workshop. The Chair has
responded to accept the invitation and to request that the workshop be held in June to
allow time for the Chair to have an operation in Papworth and to recover. Nigel and I
have not been included in a working group that the Trustees have set up to prepare for
this workshop as they did not want to compromise us in any way.

Idaway, Foxhall Close
Sallie and I visited Idaway, meeting with the team manager and operational manager to
see the new proposed layout and to hear plans for the unit’s use. It is intended to be
used initially to house temporarily single people who have a physical mobility issues
because they are for a variety of reasons left homeless. It is particularly difficult to find
accessible accommodation in this respect and Idaway provides an excellent and scarce
resource. It is possible that one half of the building (it has 2 wings) will be used for a
family with a person with mobility issues. In the longer term it is expected that the
building will be divided into 2, providing a temporary home for two families with a
member having a disability needing good access to facilities whilst a more permanent
home can be found.

The staff showed us just how easy it will be to divide up the building into two and how
accessible the facilities are for people with a mobility issue.

At the moment the building is having a face lift, but once these works are complete the
staff have suggested that they will have an open day and invite residents of Foxhall
Close to come and see the new premises. They also talked of extending that invitation
to any parish councillors who are interested.

Applications for Grants and CIL funding
It appears that groups, particularly sports groups, are finding it difficult to comprehend
the process for applying and approving grants and CIL funding from the Parish Council. I
have therefore compiled a flow chart to try to explain just how the approvals work and
which committees have what responsibilities for making decisions on grants put
forward by Sports clubs. This is slightly different to other organisations as the Sports
Council holds a coordinating function in prioritising all the grants that sports clubs are
asking for and they create an additional step in the process. I would ask that councillors
draw this workflow chart, which reflects the policies of EBPC, to the attention of any
clubs which approach them seeking a grant or CIL funding from the Parish Council.
Thank you.

25/3/26 Babergh town and Parish meeting notes

Jon Ward, Leader Babergh
Agenda:
• Three new unitaries, decision 25/3/26
• New housing targets, new joint local plan and neighbourhood plan
• Waste
• Neighbourhood recovery
• Budget, three year finance settlement

Unitary elections 2027 to create shadow Council
Suffolk County Council elections May 26

Government still committed to LGR and timetable. They still could be
change/surprises down the road
Mayor elections postponed to 2028

Local plan, SHLAA 22/2/26 is an early evidence gathering exercise. Sites includes
residential and employment sites. So far this carries no planning weight.

I’m finance for the first time in many years we have a three year settlement. Baby is
hit hard by reduction in business rate.

Arthur Charvonia, CEO on LGR
1. old Council’s will go
2. boundaries as districts have proposed. Babergh is split into 2
3. implementation will be in phases:
• disaggregate current councils (Ts&Cs of staff, IT systems, etc)
• 2028 handover4.
1. Secondary leg is September/October 2026. After that there is no turning back.
Baby will carry on transition path but not firm proposals until this date.. Joint
committees of each council with current Council will cover everything in the
unitary areas
2. May 2027 Shadow unitary elections
3. May 20208 Yuri Council’s come into effect

My election is deferred to 2028 once the local government reorganisation is settled.
Will start the process for reorganisation and then morph into the new unitary
authority having managed the election process over the election period.

Because of the county council elections in May 2026 the new county counsellors will
have to reconsent to the reorganisation happening. They will need to agree to mare
and combined authorities. So if everything goes ahead as planned combined
authorities will be established in 2026, but there will be no mare until 2028.

In June 2026 the new unitary councils boundaries will be confirmed, including Ward
boundaries. Later on the boundary commission will make formal proposals for Ward
boundaries in the unitary authorities.

When the unities are elected in 2027 new counsellor will serve a term of either four
years or 4+1 years to allow for the shadow year.

PC elections will follow the pattern of unitary Council elections, that is the next PC
election will be for either four years or 4+ one year. PC boundaries will not change.

Babergh Council will split two ways. Mid Suffolk Council will split three ways.

The boundary commission criteria will be:
• What is the sense of place?
• The number of residence?

Any area committees can only be decided by the new unitary authority

PCs should have money in the budget for elections in either 4 years or 4+1 years

Silk team have been commissioned to help the change through in East Suffolk. They
will probably be invited to help the other two unitary councils.

Babe Council’s initial task is to make decisions on
• Must do
• Would like to do/choices

The new unit tree will appoint a program manager to support the change.

Distribution of assets:
1. local council will be open to having conversations with PCs, but decision will
depend on the motivation of the PC
2. The district and unitary councils will need to look at the assets and the
geography to decide what is fair and sustainable for splitting assets. They will
clearly consider any work PCs want to take on, for instance recreation areas,
to ensure local support for local assets.

Neighbourhood committees:
AC is not sure these will be helpful. It may be more comfortable where areas are
already formed. Planning and decisions should be bottom up rather than structured
down. The Work stands or fails based on relationships built between unitary and
Parish Council.
JW was concerned about democratic accountability. Neighbourhood committees
might not be accountable. Advisory panels might have value.

Joint local plan: Rob Hobbs
Joint local plan will be from 2026–2045

In Suffolk, all local authorities have agreed they will produce consistent plans across
all district councils.

Timetable is December 24 for a new framework, new housing targets based on
homes
2028 is the planning assumption for completion of adopted number of houses per
area. In 2026 there will be a spatial strategy and district will consult on actual
distribution of houses.

Timetable
30 month planning
Gateway one: January 27, policies and proposed site locations will be set out.
Gateway 2: November 27 inspector check point
February 28 final plan for consultation
Gateway3: having taken on board consultation, May 28 submit final plan
The new units will own the process by this stage.

Call for site completed February 26, the plan assessment of house site suitability by
May 26. A lot of evidence to make the decision decisions is already available.

Babe will try to have common ground with neighbourhood plans so can mitigate
conflicts.

Developing a spatial strategy and allocations, work underway now. Seeking high-
level development options feedback, with a very open consultation.
Currently working on:
• Vision
• Spatial strategy/allocations
• Boundary review reviews
• Site methodology to set criteria for assessment
Paper will publish notices on their website and through press releases. They will also
hold themed workshops.

Joint local plans will be inherited by each new authority who might inherit more than
one local plan. But because councils working together they should be aligned and
with NPs.

For the January 27 publication of sites, they will need to be evidence of shared
objectives

Councils will expect PCs to to use neighbourhood CIL to support neighbourhood
plans.

Babergh will supply some grants to support neighbourhood plans production they will
just need to know who is serious in taking it forward.

Babergh will be looking to the neighbourhood plans for preference for sites to be
developed.

The call for sites initiative, paper are open to consultation on the sites put forward.
They will expect Parish Council’s to have views on these sites and suitability.

Jonathan Word: environments policies and biodiversity policies to help nature
recovery across paper.
There was a presentation on this subject. I don’t have detailed notes but it was
emphasised that neighbourhood plans should concentrate on these policies