Agenda and minutes

To receive announcements (if any) from the officer advising the Chair (including apologies for absence).

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Trevor Beckwith, Mick Bradshaw, Sarah Broughton, John Burns, Max Clarke, Jason Crooks, Diane Hind, Elaine McManus, David Nettleton, Sarah Pugh, Karen Soons and Nick Wiseman.

Councillor Aaron Luccarini was also unable to attend the meeting.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary or local non pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda no later than when that item is reached and, when appropriate, to leave the meeting prior to discussion and voting on the item.

Members’ declarations of interest are recorded under the item to which the declaration relates.

Council Procedure Rules Sections 3 and 6. Members of the public who live or work in the district may put questions or make statements to members of the Cabinet or any committee.

As this is an extraordinary meeting of the Council, statements and questions must be limited to the business to be transacted at the meeting.

(Note: The maximum time to be set aside for this item is 30 minutes, but if all questions/statements are dealt with sooner, or if there are no questions/statements, the Council will proceed to the next business.)

Each person may ask one question or make one statement only. A total of five minutes will be allowed for the question to be put and answered or the statement made. If a question is raised, one supplementary question will be allowed provided that it arises directly from the reply and the overall time limit of five minutes is not exceeded.

If a statement is made, then the Chair may allow the Leader of the Council, or other member to whom they refer the matter, a right of reply.

The Constitution allows that a person who wishes to speak must register at least 15 minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled to start.  We have a corporate and social responsibility for the safety of our staff, our councillors and visiting members of the public. Wetherefore, strongly urge anyone who wishes to register to speak to notify Democratic Services by 9am on the day of the meeting so that advice can be given on the arrangements in place.

As an alternative to addressing the meeting in person, written questions may be submitted by members of the public to the Monitoring Officer no later than 10am on Monday 16 May 2022. The written notification should detail the full question to be asked at the meeting of the Council.

No members of the public in attendance had registered to speak.

Following its meeting on 26 April 2022, the recommendations contained in this report have been referred by Cabinet to Council for a final decision.

Due to the length and complexities of the report, the item is included as a separate agenda item rather than as a summarised referral from Cabinet.

Note: Due to the length and filesize of the documents, Appendix A (which is divided into three supplementary packs containing Parts One, Two and Three and their respective appendices) is only available electronically with the agenda papers, at the following link:

Agenda for Council on Tuesday 17 May 2022, 7.30 pm (westsuffolk.gov.uk)

Report number: COU/WS/22/010

Council considered this report, which sought approval of the West Suffolk Local Plan Preferred Options document, for the purposes of public consultation.

Following its meeting on 26 April 2022, the recommendations contained in the report had been referred by Cabinet to Council for a final decision.

The West Suffolk Local Plan would cover the period up to 2040.  Upon adoption it would set out the Council’s policies to address housing and employment needs and other associated economic, social and environmental priorities. 

It was an important tool in supporting delivery of West Suffolk Council’s strategic priorities and essential for the continuation of an effective planning service. In addition, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004), required local planning authorities to prepare and keep an up-to-date local plan.

The Preferred Options document (Appendix A) represented the next stage of the plan making process. It was proposed to consult on the Preferred Options Local Plan and supporting documents for eight-plus weeks from Thursday 26 May to Tuesday 26 July 2022.

Appendix A (as listed as agenda items 4a, 4b and 4c respectively) was divided into three parts, namely:

Part One: strategic policies

Part Two: non strategic policies

Part Three: site allocations

A summary of the content of each part was detailed in paragraph 2.2 of the report.

Councillor David Roach, Portfolio Holder for Planning, drew relevant issues to the attention of Council, including that it was important to note that the plan was still evolving, and no firm decisions had been made at this stage.  The Council would continue to gather evidence throughout the local plan preparation and this consultation was an important aspect of this. Therefore, this was not what the final plan would look like.

The response received from this consultation would help shape the next version of the local plan.  That version would be the document which the Council proposed to submit for examination to the Planning Inspectorate and would be subject to a further round of consultation prior to its submission.

Councillor Roach placed his thanks on record for the outstanding work of relevant officers and the West Suffolk Local Plan Working Group for their excellent contributions in reaching this significant stage of the local plan development process.

On the motion of Councillor David Roach, duly seconded by Councillor Joe Mason, it was put to the vote and with the vote being 50 for the motion, none against and one abstention, it was

Resolved: That

1.       the West Suffolk Local Plan Preferred Options (Regulation 18) document, as contained in Appendix A to Report number: COU/WS/22/010, together with supporting documents, be approved for the purposes of public consultation.

2.       Delegated authority be given to the Director (Planning and Growth), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning to make minor non-material consequential changes to the documents, as necessary.

Supplementary Agenda Pack ‘A’

Appendix A to Report number: COU/WS/22/010

Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach

This provides the draft consultation document for Part One: Strategic Policies section of the Preferred Options consultation. It sets out the draft local plan vision and objectives and the strategic policies that are the heart of the West Suffolk Local Plan. These contain the Council’s development strategy establishing our commitment to achieving net zero, adapting to and mitigating for climate change, setting the pattern, scale and quality of development to meet our need in West Suffolk to 2040, and making provision for all types of development, infrastructure, community facilities and the conservation and enhancement of the natural and built environment (where these issues relate to strategic priorities).

See minute 215. above.

Supplementary Agenda Pack ‘B’

Appendix A to Report number: COU/WS/22/010

Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach

This provides the draft consultation document for Part Two: Non Strategic Policies section of the Preferred Options consultation. The non strategic policies are locally specific policies that will be used in day-to-day planning decisions (providing more detail on the strategic policies, and providing criteria that proposals are required to comply with).

See minute 215. above.

Supplementary Agenda Pack ‘C’

Appendix A to Report number: COU/WS/22/010

Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach

This provides the draft consultation document for Part Three: Site Allocations section of the Preferred Options consultation. These include residential, mixed-use and employment site allocations. It also identifies existing employment areas, town centres and local centres.

See minute 215. above.