Saxmundham

Examiner gives green light to Sax Neighbourhood Plan, after some agreed changes

The Saxmundham Neighbourhood Plan (NP) is finally close to completion, after months of detailed exchanges between the Examiner, East Suffolk Council planning officers and the Sax NP Steering Group. The final decision will rest with the residents of Saxmundham, since – to be adopted – the Plan must be approved through a Local Referendum.

On 16^th March, the Examiner, John Slater, issued his Report to East Suffolk Council on the Examination he had undertaken on the draft NP, in which his task was to ensure that Plan is in line with all the legal requirements.  This has involved quite a lot of detailed changes. 

In his Report, the Examiner congratulates the Town Council on reaching a successful outcome of the examination, and pays tribute to the “huge amount of hard work [that] has gone into this plan by volunteers on behalf of the local community and I am pleased to recognise their sterling work. I have been impressed by their professionalism exhibited throughout.”

In the most significant change he required, the Examiner ruled that the planning policies we had put forward in the draft NP specifically relating to the proposed new South Saxmundham Garden Neighbourhood did not meet the legal requirement, in that the Garden Neighbourhoood extends beyond the defined boundary of the NP area into Benhall Parish, and is thus beyond the Sax NP’s proper scope.  However, with Mr Slater’s support, the parties have agreed that some of the policies and guidelines for the Garden Neighbourhood could be given effect as applying  Saxmundham as a whole, notably the design guidelines drawn up by our consultants, AECOM.

The Examiner’s Report contains a lengthy and detailed Appendix setting out all of the agreed changes. His short Summary of the Report’s outcome is given at the end of this article.

Once the finalised text is put together, to include all of the agreed changes, the next major step is for the Neighbourhood Plan to be put to the people of Saxmundham in a Local Referendum, to be organised by East Suffolk Council.  Unfortunately, it was not practicable to hold this on the same date in early May as the local government elections. However, a date in late June may be possible.  We will publicize the date as soon as it is known.  The outcome of the Referendum is based on a simple majority of those voting.

Summary

122. I congratulate Saxmundham Town Council on reaching a successful outcome to the examination of its neighbourhood plan.
123. It is clear that a huge amount of hard work has gone into this plan by volunteers on behalf of the local community and I am pleased to recognise their sterling work. I have been impressed by their professionalism exhibited throughout.
124. I appreciate the frustration regarding the fact that the neighbourhood plan could not provide the additional local perspective on the masterplanning of the garden neighbourhood. This clearly is an important development that needs to be carefully planned so that it becomes not just a community in its own right but also an integral part of the town which is properly integrated both in terms of facilities and connections. The issue that this examination has had to grapple with is a matter of historic boundaries and their relationship with the second largest local plan allocation in East Suffolk Council- Suffolk Coastal Local Plan area.