Capel St Mary is waiting for two significant planning applications to land on the desk.  There are concerns over both, not because people object to new homes – people need them – but rather because of the access, noise and traffic problems they seem destined to cause, with detriment to residential amenity and road safety.  We shall need to try to influence how these two developments are delivered. Within a few years we could see literally hundreds of new homes in villages nearby the A12 and A1214.  The impact on our schools, health services and journeys to work will be considerable without new investment.

The Babergh and Mid Suffolk Joint Strategic Plan has five priorities.  We received a headline update on these early in September.

1. With respect to housing – the objective is: “more of the right type of homes, of the right tenure in the right place.” Given the issues our communities are facing – we need to ensure any new development meets this primary requirement. A new Joint Local Plan is being developed to cover the period up to 2036. The second “call for sites” (smaller this time, able to take five or more homes) is part of this planning. Since April this year, more than 150 planning applications with a CIL liability have been granted, potentially yielding over £1.3M towards infrastructure improvements.  Some £200,000 will go directly to parish councils. Self-builds are exempted from CIL.  There have been 12 new dwellings and five extensions in this category so far.

2. Government wants communities to thrive, grow, be healthy, active and self-sufficient. 33 engagement events held during the summer discussed housing-led growth for the prosperity of the area. Over 600 people attended, 200 surveys were completed and nearly 2000 comments received. A £25,000 grant was awarded to a new community store in Bentley and very positive work with Hadleigh Dementia Action Alliance has resulted in 1000 dementia friends with 15 local businesses involved.

3. An updated Economic Development Strategy is using intelligence gathered from a business survey. Dedicated account managers will be allocated to businesses and “Space to Innovate” Enterprise Zone sites should generate 23 new businesses and 800FTE jobs at Sproughton Enterprise Park. The careers website: https://www.icanbea.org.uk/ is now up and running with 120 employer profiles. New Anglia LEP has launched a micro grant scheme £1,000 to £10,000 for businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk.

4. Officers and Members now have access to a big internal database for all of the council’s projects detailing progress, key contacts and responsibilities. It’s constantly updated. There will soon be a new more user-friendly joint public web-site for Babergh and Mid Suffolk – all designed to make the organisation more enabled and efficient.

5. A Capital Investment Strategy is taking off with the purchase of property in Sudbury’s Borehamgate shopping centre and land in the Hamilton Road Quarter. These will be developed to provide income for the General Fund. Redundant buildings, plus other property assets are being bought using right-to-buy receipts to provide new homes.