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The Long Melford 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.
Long Melford Parish Council are reviewing their adopted NDP to ensure that it remains relevant and up to date. For more information, please visit the Parish Council website.
In an ‘out of meeting’ decision taken on Monday 31 October 2022, Babergh District Council have agreed to adopt ('make') the Long Melford NDP.
This NDP, which covers the plan period to 2037, now forms part of the development plan and will be used to help determine planning applications in the parish unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
A local referendum was held on 27 October 2022. The question asked of those entitled to vote was: "Do you want Babergh District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Long Melford to help it decide planning applications in the Neighbourhood Plan Area?".
New procedures agreed in September 2021 meant that a NDP could be advanced to a referendum without Cabinet approval where there was no objection to implementing the Examiner's recommendations. That applied in this case, with the decision confirmed through publication of the following statement:
Babergh District Council appointed Ann Skippers BSc (Hons) MRTPI FHEA FRSA AoU to carry out an independent examination of the Long Melford NDP. The examination was conducted through written correspondence.
On 13 May 2022, the Examiner issued her final report. It recommended that, subject to modification, this NDP meets the basic condition tests and that it should proceed to a local referendum.
The submission draft Long Melford NDP was made available for public consultation between 20 September and 5 November 2021. The Parish Council (the qualifying body) had formally submitted the following documents:
Please note: The second, third and fourth documents listed above include embedded hyperlinks to other documents.
An assessment on how this NDP met the basic condition test formed part of the examiner. At the time of submission, our initial checks indicated that the relevant procedural requirements had been met. Read the Regulation 15 Checklist.
Respondents were also reminded that their comments would be forwarded to the examiner and, with the exception of personal details, be published on this webpage.
The pre-submission draft NDP was screened to decide whether a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and or a Habitats Assessment (HRA) were required. The need for an SEA was 'screened in'. The need for an HRA was 'screened out'. The relevant report and determination notices are published below:
Pre-submission consultation by the parish council took place between 17 January and 28 February 2019.