Issue - meetings

Report No:   CAB/SE/17/064

Portfolio Holder: Alaric Pugh          

Lead Officers: Julie Baird and Chris Rand

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (19 December 2017)

That the masterplan for Bury St Edmunds Town Centre, as detailed in Appendix A to Report No: CAB/SE/17/064, be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document.

The Cabinet considered Report No: CAB/SE/17/064, which sought approval for the Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Masterplan, following consultation.

The Bury St Edmunds Vision 2031 document was adopted by St Edmundsbury Borough Council (SEBC) in September 2014. The preparation of a masterplan for Bury St Edmunds town centre was referred to in Policy BV27 of this document.

The aim of the masterplan, which was attached as Appendix A to the report, was to set guidelines for the future growth and development of Bury St Edmunds town centre and to provide the framework for individual development proposals to be assessed when they came forward.  The Council was legally responsible for the masterplan; which would become a formal Supplementary Planning Document upon adoption by Council.

The masterplan had been co-produced; as such, through the establishment of a Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Masterplan Working Group (BSETCMWG), which comprised representatives of several organisations and partners connected with Bury St Edmunds town centre, as outlined in the report.

The timeline for reaching this point in the development of the masterplan was set out in the report, including details of the consultation process that took place between Monday 31 July and Friday 8 September 2017 on the draft masterplan.  Details of all replies, together with officer comment and consequential changes to the masterplan document were included in the Consultation Report which could be viewed online as Appendix B.

Councillor Alaric Pugh, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Growth and Chairman of the BSETCMWG, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet, including that adoption of the masterplan was a key element in guiding investment, aspirations and development opportunities to accommodate growth within Bury St Edmunds Town Centre helping to implement an important part of Bury St Edmunds Vision 2031, whilst ensuring the history and ‘heart’ of Bury St Edmunds was preserved and retained.

He added that the consultation process was both extensive and innovative and Members and officers were commended for their roles in achieving a wide range of consultation responses.

He then thanked Mr Summers for his statement made during Public Participation and the organisations Mr Summers was representing, acknowledging how the work of the BSETCMWG and the responses to the consultation had helped to develop the final version the masterplan.

The Cabinet supported Councillor Pugh’s comments, expressing their own commendations to Members, officers and partners for their roles in developing the masterplan and the consultation process; and subject to adoption, looked forward to the aspirations coming to fruition at the appropriate time.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

That the masterplan for Bury St Edmunds Town Centre, as detailed in Appendix A to Report No: CAB/SE/17/064, be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document.