Agenda item

Report number:     CAB/WS/21/047

Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach

Lead officer: Julie Baird

Resolved:

That the West Mildenhall Draft Masterplan be approved for public consultation by the developer team, as set out in Appendix A to Report number CAB/WS/21/047.

(Report number CAB/WS/21/047)

Councillor David Roach, Portfolio Holder for Planning presented this report which explained that the site was allocated in the Site Allocations Local Plan (SALP) 2019 Development Plan document, which had allocated 97 hectares of land for a mixed use development to include 1300 dwellings with a local centre, a minimum of five hectares of employment law, a 10 hectare Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (SANG), school, leisure facilities and public services.  The public services and leisure facilities element of the scheme had been delivered by the Mildenhall Hub.  This Hub included provision for secondary education.

Suffolk County Council (SCC) were the majority landowner for the remainder of the allocated site and, whilst formal agreement had not been reached with the third party owners, they were aware that SCC had begun the process of preparing a Masterplan to inform the future development.  In 2019/2020, Suffolk County Council commissioned a series of assessments and reports to inform the early stages of the Masterplan process and held a public consultation on this preliminary information from 4 January 2021 to 15 February 2021.

Suffolk County Council collated the feedback from the consultation and categorised it into several key areas, including sire and land use, density, character and design of residential areas, transport movement and connectivity, green infrastructure and climate change.  Suffolk County Council also engaged with West Suffolk Council Officers, along with statutory bodies in order to develop a series of Masterplan framework plans addressing land use, landscape, ecology, drainage and connectivity and movement.

It has been established at the Local Plan stage that there was no requirement for a bypass to the west of Mildenhall to cater for the growth allocated within the Plan.  However, Suffolk County Council had acknowledged the need for detailed Highway information at this Masterplan stage in order to set out deliverable highway mitigation measures.  Suffolk County Council had agreed the scope of the Transport Assessment with the Local Highway Authority and were undertaking the necessary work to inform this.  Such work would not normally be carried out at the Masterplan stage as it was required to inform the outline planning application stage, which followed the adoption of a Masterplan.

Suffolk County Council had submitted this draft Masterplan to West Suffolk Council with the intention to commence a public consultation in mid-November 2021.  Officers had reviewed the document in detail and were satisfied that it was in an appropriate form for public consultation and that this was the appropriate time to invite the local community and statutory bodies and organisations to comment on the proposals within the document.

The relevant Ward Members had been regularly briefed on the progress of the draft Masterplan and on the outcome of discussions between Officers at Suffolk County Council and West Suffolk Council.  Following on from the statement which had been made by Councillor Ian Shipp, earlier in the meeting, the Cabinet acknowledged that the local Members remained concerned about any potential highway related impacts of the proposed development.  Therefore, it was important for the local community to engage with this Masterplan consultation, so that all issues could be raised and properly considered, prior to its adoption.

Approval of the draft Masterplan, subject to a public consultation, would allow Suffolk County Council to seek the views of the community on the content of the document and make any necessary amendments and revisions to the document that may be required, in order to progress towards the adoption of the Masterplan by West Suffolk Council.  Once, adopted, the Masterplan would assist the Council to shape the nature and content of future planning applications for this allocated site.

The proposed Masterplan document for public consultation was attached as Appendix A to Report number CAB/WS/21/047.

Resolved:

That the West Mildenhall Draft Masterplan be approved for public consultation by the developer team, as set out in Appendix A to Report number CAB/WS/21/047.