Thursday 13th July 7.00 pm Berners Hall

Presentation by District Councillors, Derek Davis and Peter Patrick with Babergh Strategic Planning Officer, Bill Newman.

I have attached the minutes taken from the meeting last Thursday (13/07). 

In my view, the short answer is below:

Babergh District Council are not meeting their housing targets, therefore the amount of houses needing to be built is increasing as the shortfall is added on to the next target. There is immense pressure from central government to achieve the targets which get harder to reach the more Babergh fall behind.

The shortfall is not because of lack of planning permissions being given but from the lack of delivery of units being built. The rural areas of Babergh are delivering well but there is poor delivery adjacent to urban areas.

The rural areas are now being asked to take more housing because of this failure to deliver the target amount of houses. Building in rural areas can be delivered more easily, if the land is offered by landowners, because there are less obstacles, green fields, access etc.

In my view, our rural heritage and character will be irreversibly damaged because of Babergh District Council's failure to deliver in its urban-adjacent sites.

The Local Plan shows Woolverstone has two fairly large areas offered for development by landowners. These appear in the new draft Local Plan despite having been rejected in the previous year’s SHELAA assessment. “Site is inadequately related to services, facilities & is disproportionate in size for location.” Our village scores very poorly on services; we do not have any shops, pubs, street lighting etc. The only positive is access to a road, which is going to have an increase in traffic in the order of 30% now that HMS Ganges site will be developed. The sites offered are” greenfield” sites of Grade 2 agricultural land. The land is adjacent to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and partly in our Conservation Area.

The map regarding Woolverstone is on page 280 of the draft Local Plan document which is also attached.

Please let me have your views on this consultation proposal. (simonrpearce@gmx.co.uk)

Application for Leave to Appeal the Judicial Review decision of July 21st 2016

We are deeply disappointed at the decision not to be given leave to appeal against the judgment made at the Judicial Review hearing in July 2016 to grant planning permission for 285 houses, 60 bed Care Home, Hostel and other commercial/retail buildings on the former HMS Ganges site, Shotley Gate.

At a meeting on 8th Febraury 2017 the Parish Council resolved to take no further action in relation to the appeal. It was unanimously agreed that we have gone as far as we can reasonably and legally go. We have always acted in what we believe to be the best interests of the community as a whole. However, we are now satisfied that we have pursued those interests as far as we can. Nevertheless, our concerns remain that such a large residential development, added to the one  currently being built at Shotley Marina, will make Shotley one of the largest villages in Babergh District. It remains our view that this will have a significant impact on the Peninsula, its services and those living in the villages along the B1456.

For the full statement, please select the Statement icon.

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Woolverstone is a small village situated some 4 miles from Suffolk's county town of Ipswich. The River Orwell flows along its northern boundary.

The village is within a conservation area and situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The conservation area was designated in 1989 and a further appraisal was carried out in 2008 by Babergh District Council's Conservation Officer and adopted. You can find a copy of this under 'Parish Council'

Woolverstone owes much of its present shape to the Berners family who bought the estate and built amongst other properties in the village, the Hall which is considered to be one of the finest examples of the Palladian style. It is featured above from a photograph taken by Stewart Harris.

If you have just moved to the village, you may find the Welcome Pack of help.