Hitcham Neighbourhood Plan

Main Panel Title

The Hitcham Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) has been prepared by the Parish Council and local community and will be used to help guide and shape future development in the parish.

Reg 20 Formal adoption (7 Nov 2025)

In an 'Officer Decision', effective from Friday 7 November 2025, Babergh District Council have agreed to adopt ('make') the Hitcham NDP.

Covering the period to 2037, the NDP now forms part of the development plan and will be used to help determine planning applications in the parish unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Supporting evidence

The adopted plan refers to the following supporting evidence documents:

Previous stages

Local Referendum (30 Oct 2025)

A local referendum was held on 30 October 2025. The question asked of those entitled to vote was: 'Do you want Babergh District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Hitcham to help it decide planning applications in the Neighbourhood Plan Area?'

See the declared result - a majority yes vote

Updated Design Guidelines document

An updated Design Guidelines and Codes document, which addressed matters identified in the Examination Report, was published alongside the referendum version Plan in September 2025. It can now be found with the other Supporting evidence documents published further above.

Reg 18 Decision Statement (20 Jun 2025)

Procedures agreed in late 2021 meant that a NDP could be advanced to a local referendum without Cabinet approval where there was no objection to implementing the Examiner's recommendations in full. That applied in this case, with our decision confirmed through publication of the following statement:

Read the Hitcham NDP R18 Decision Statement (June 2025)

Reg 17 Examination (Final Report 10 June 2025)

Babergh District Council appointed Janet Cheesley BA (Hons) DipTP MRTPI to carry out an independent examination of the Hitcham NDP. The examination relied on the submitted documents and written representations.

On Tuesday 10 June 2025, the Examiner issued her final report. It recommended that subject to certain modifications being made, this NDP would meet the basic condition tests and that it should proceed to a local referendum.

Reg 16 Submission consultation (ended 9 May 2025)

The submission draft Hitcham NDP was made available for public consultation between 24 March and 9 May 2025.

The Parish Council (the qualifying body) had submitted the following documents:

A map identifying the Hitcham NDP Area
The submission draft Hitcham NDP 2022 - 2037
A Consultation Statement
A Basic Conditions Statement
A Design Guidelines & Codes document (AECOM, Jan 2025) - replaced by the post examination version published above with the adopted Plan
A Housing Needs Assessment (Jan 2023), and a Hitcham Data Profile (Nov 2022) – both also published above with the adopted Plan
A copy of our SEA & HRA Determination Notice (see further below)

An assessment on how this NDP met the basic condition tests formed part of the examination. Our initial checks suggested that the relevant procedural requirements had been met at this stage. See our Regulation 15 Checklist.

Respondents were also reminded that that their comments would be forwarded to the Examiner and, with the exception of personal contact details, be published on this webpage. Hitcham Parish Council have also been given the opportunity to respond to new issues raised at this stage.

See the Reg 16 Consultation responses

Reg 14 Pre-submission consultation (13 Jul - 30 Aug 2024)

Consultation by Hitcham Parish Council on their pre-submission draft NDP closed on 30 August 2024.

SEA/HRA Screening and Determination (July 2024)

The pre-submission draft Hitcham NDP was screened to determine whether a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and or a Habitats Assessment (HRA) were required. Both were 'screened out'. The relevant reports and our determination notice are published below:

Reg 05 Area Designation (20 Jan 2020)

Read the Area Designation documents