Where in Walsham should we put an additional 190 houses?
In December 2024 the Government announced ambitious plans for the building of houses in the UK during the lifespan of the current government. This was reflected in major changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and increases in the housing requirements for virtually every Local Authority (LA) in the country. The Indicative Requirement for Mid Suffolk District Council (MSDC) had increased by 37% and meant that the LA needed to identify a supply of land to accommodate 15,414 residential units to be built between 2024 and 2044.
MSDC’s immediate response was to take this total figure and distribute it amongst all the parishes – if your parish contained 1% of MSDC’s total population then your parish was expected to accommodate 1% of the proposed growth. On this basis Walsham is expected to provide space for an additional 190 houses over the twenty year period up to 2044. This, of course, is a very crude approach to the problem, and does not take into account the location of parishes, their existing facilities, their accessibility or any of the many other factors, such as the reorganisation of Local Government, that are likely to be relevant. “These are only indicative figures and are subject to many caveats”. The figures will almost certainly be refined in the future, but at the moment we are advised to “be prepared for the worst and hope for the best”.
Having an up-to-date Neighbourhood Plan (NP) in place is now a major advantage, and hopefully makes all the time and effort put into producing it worthwhile. The principal use of NPs was always to influence and guide development – this is the task we are now facing. In our NP we have a clearly stated Vision for the village and an established and agreed set of Policies. The NP also contains a large amount of information and data which will be extremely useful in responding to this challenge. Our immediate task is therefore to update our Neighbourhood Plan.
In order to get this process underway the Parish Council is calling an open meeting to discuss the whole issue of updating the NP and the additional housing in the parish. The meeting is to be held on Wednesday 19th November in the Memorial Village Hall starting at 7.00. The PArish Council hopes that as many parishioners as possible will take advantage of this opportunity, but are particularly keen that landowners and those involved with the production of the Neighbourhood Plan will be able to attend.
Richard Belson
Chair of Parish Council