NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN DROP-IN DAY SATURDAY 22ND JUNE CANCELLED

The drop-in day planned for this Saturday (22nd June) has been cancelled. Its purpose was to present the sites suggested in the Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire, and obtain your views and preferences.

On June 18th, Mid Suffolk District Council published the revised draft of the new Local Plan, which will be considered by committee next week. The new version contains significant changes which affect Drinkstone, and which mean that Saturday’s drop-in session is no longer necessary.

Under the previous version of the Local Plan, published 2 years ago, Drinkstone was classified as a “hinterland village” where there would have to be “proportionate development”.

After vigorous representations from the Parish Council, challenging this designation, we have now been reclassified as a “Hamlet”. This has led to a significant reduction in the number of new houses we will be expected to plan for in the village. We now need to plan for a minimum of one new dwelling.

Since April 2018, planning permission has been granted for 8 new dwellings in the parish. This means that we have already met the number required in the latest version of the Local Plan.

So at this stage we do not need to consider other sites, which is why we have cancelled Saturday’s event.

The next Neighbourhood Plan event  will be your opportunity to look at and comment on the final draft of our Neighbourhood Plan. This will be at the beginning of August – date to be announced.