Saxmundham

Sax Town Council press release on local plan – rejects District’s plan for new 800 home “Garden Neighbourhood”

Here is the text of the Saxmundham Council press release on its Response to the Suffolk Coastal District Council draft Local Plan.

The press release can be downloaded from the town council website, at  http://www.saxmundham.org/documents/STCresponsedraftpressrelease11September2018.pdf 

“Saxmundham Town Council rejects District Council plans for new ‘Garden Neighbourhood’ 800 home development as excessive, unjustified

Saxmundham Town Councillors have given a unanimous thumbs-down to Suffolk Coastal’s first draft Local Plan proposal for a new 800-dwelling development in a so-called ‘Garden Neighbourhood’ at the south end of the town. 

Under the District Council’s proposals, the historic market town (pop. 4,500) would grow by 50% in population by 2030 (an increase of some 2,200), being required to provide for more than 20% of all new homes in the whole District for the next 18 years. 

The Town Council, meeting on Monday, in its 18 page Response called the plans “excessive” and “ill-conceived.”  It considers that the District Council has not properly and fairly evaluated alternative sites, has put forward contradictory site plans, and has failed to show how it would meet genuine ‘Garden City’ principles (which it claims to support), including the need for genuinely affordable housing.

The fact that the proposed site is split in two by the railway line means that in reality it is two separate sites, not a single ‘Neighbourhood’, the town council also argue, absent an expensive new road bridge.

Town Council Chairman Phillip Dunnett said:

“Our Town Council wants our town to continue growing in size and to become an even more attractive and lively place for local people. But our councillors are unanimous in our message that the scale of the new development plan is excessive and would seriously damage the character, heritage and environment of our town.  The ‘Garden Neighbourhood’ plans are, we believe, poorly argued and fail to look at other options.

The District Council needs to fundamentally rethink its plans for Saxmundham.  There are many good points in the draft Local Plan, but they have not got it right here. We are happy to work with them on proposals for good quality, reasonable development that benefits local people, as well as fairly helping meet the District’s broader goals.”

The Council argues that, rather than build all in a massive single development that would in-fill the area from Saxmundham to neighbouring Benhall, on both sides of the railway track and across to the A12 bypass, there is a site to the east off Church Hill that has been wrongly ignored or rejected by the District and which could take part of future development.  This would enable the historic Layers site, to the south of the town and east of the railway, to be preserved.

The Town Council favours future development of 400-600 new homes over the Plan period, rather than the 1,000 (including current pipeline planning consents)  proposed by Suffolk Coastal.

The Town Council also fears that the scale of current District proposals, allied to future Sizewell C plans, could cause severe problems for Saxmundham, including traffic.  The town council is also concerned at the impact on water, sewage, drainage etc. as well as local transport network.

The full Saxmundham Town Council Response is attached (in pdf format)

ENDS”

[The summary of conclusions and recommendations is added as an Annex]

The full Town Council response can be dowloaded from here:

http://www.saxmundham.org/documents/STCLocalPlanresponseSept2018final.pdf