Freckenham Village Website
Information about the Village, the Parish Council and events in the Village Hall
Information about the Village, the Parish Council and events in the Village Hall
Information about the Village, the Parish Council and events in the Village Hall
Draft Neighbourhood Plan ConsultationWe’ve now reached a major milestone by completing the consultation on the Draft Neighbourhood Plan. Consultation ended 4 December. It was your chance to say whether or not you support the content of the Plan or would like to see some changes. The Plan can be downloaded here Link to Neighbourhood Plan We’ve also produced a summary leaflet which has been distributed to every household and business. If you would lie to borrow a paper copy of the Plan for a short period please contact Sue Cornell on 01638 720360 and we’ll make arrangements to get one to you. Drop-in Event There was a drop in event in the Village Hall on Friday 20 October and Saturday 21 October where you were able to find out more about the Plan, view a paper copy and obtain a comments form. Reference Documents A number of studies and reference documents are available and which are referred to in the Plan. They are set out below Freckenham Local Green Space Assessment Freckenham Conservation Area Appraisal July 2022 Drop-in Event display
What next Following the completion of the consultation, we will review comments received, make any necessary amendments to the Plan and then submit it to West Suffolk Council in order that it can proceed to examination and a parish referendum, hopefully towards the end of the year.
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FRECKENHAM NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANOver recent years there has been much discussion about whether we should create Neighbourhood Plan for the parish of Freckenham. The Government is now offering meaningful funding to encourage parishes to prepare their own Neighbourhood Plans.The Localism Act 2011 gives the right for all communities to have their say and proactively shape their future through the production of a Neighbourhood Plan. When drafted, this will be put to parish residents for approval through a Parish Referendum. If approved, it will form part of the District Council’s Statutory Local Plan and has to be followed when any future planning application is submitted.Freckenham Parish Council recognises that recent development and planning applications within the village have been largely ad-hoc with little or no consultation to identify village needs.A Neighbourhood Plan will, on the one hand, help protect our village from unwanted development, but also, positively identify locations, types and styles of development needed to enable the organic growth of the village to be accommodated harmoniously.Your Parish Council has created a Sub-Committee to drive this forward, drawn from volunteers across the village.We need your support and ideas into this important plan as it will shape the future of our special village for future generations.A Power point presentation has been created by Urban Vision Enterprise who work with parishes to create Neighbourhood Plans. It sets out clearly the various steps involved in creating a Neighbourhood Plan and the pieces of evidence which the Neighbourhood Plan Sub-Committee are gathering together in order to create the Freckenham Plan. |
Not sure what a Neighbourhood Plan is?Take a look here for a great explanation.
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LATEST NEWS AND UPDATESApril 2023The Parish Council will be inquorate as of 9th May 2023, therefore the Parish Council meeting scheduled for 15th May will now not go ahead. This will delay the below timetable: 15th May 2023 - Draft plan to be approved and signed off by the Parish Council for public consultation -June/July 2023 – Formal public consultation for a period of at least 6 weeks September 2023 – Parish Council review comments on Plan and approve amended Plan be submitted to West Suffolk Council Please check back for updates, as it is hoped a council will be formed as soon as possible. March 2023West Suffolk Councils Local Plan and village categorisation
West Suffolk Council has commenced a review of the local plan which will set out the long term planning and land use policies for the area.
This issues and options consultation was the beginning of the process of drawing up a local plan for West Suffolk. It was important to identify the key issues that have an impact on our area and the options that are available to WSC in planning for growth.
The consultation documents West Suffolk Sustainable Settlements Study 2021 (inconsult.uk)
Showed that Freckenham was classed a type A village, a village with three or more sustainability indicators. The below is as per WSC:
The Freckenham - Secondary village to type A village (+)
The village has early years education provision, a village hall, public house and a play area and a red bus service. This warrants the secondary village being categorised as a type A village.
FPC disagreed with the categorisation and made the follow comments:
Although you state Freckenham Parish Council have three of the sustainability indicators, public house, play area and early education provision, the Parish Council believe Freckenham should remain a type B village. There is a complete lack of other services which would be required by residents. A very poor non[1]commutable bus service which does not give satisfactory time in the nearest town or indeed for further afield. No consolidation at all in respects of this or other services. Poor accessibility by public or no sustainable methods of transport available. Therefore, villagers have to use their own transport, or other means of help i.e. from neighbours.
The preferred options consultation draft of the local plan was the second opportunity for the public and statutory consultees to get involved and make comments.
The Preferred Options of the West Suffolk Local Plan which was published in May 2022 for consultation, showed Freckenham still being classified as Type A village.
FPC made the following comments in regards to this:
Freckenham has not had a convenience food shop for many years and the bus service does not provide journey to work services. As such, the Parish Council is of the belief that Freckenham should be classified as a Type-B village in the Local Plan. Alternatively, if it is concluded that it is a Type-A village, it should not be the focus for as much development as those Type-A villages with a higher scoring of services.
Details on West Suffolk’s Local Plan can be found on their website.
Below are some useful pages and links:
West Suffolk Local Plans: https://www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/planning/planning_policies/local_plans/ West Suffolk Local Plan timetable: West Suffolk Council Local Development Scheme January 2021 - West Suffolk Local Plan new programme Exhibition of the preferred options consultation draft of the local plan: https://westsuffolk.exhibition.app/
Part Three, Site Allocations for Type A villages: https://westsuffolk.inconsult.uk/wslp_preferred_options/viewCompoundDoc?docid=12338676&sessionid=&voteid=&partId=12340180
Part Three Site Allocations, Appendix B - omission sites
Site Master Planning Report The Parish Council have been made aware that the document Freckenham Neighbourhood Plan Allocated Sites Development Briefs (June 2021) is not publicised on this website or was and has since been removed. Please find the final site master planning report here. Please note things have moved on from the time the document was dated.
Joint Statement of the Freckenham Parish Council and the Freckenham Neighbourhood Plan Group Our planned timetable was delayed by the content of the draft the Preferred Options of the West Suffolk Local Plan which was published last May for consultation. We needed to see a draft of that, in order to ensure that our Neighbourhood Plan is in line with current and future policy. The Preferred Options document showed Freckenham being a Type A village where some housing growth would be likely. It came as a surprise to the Parish Council that the local plan preferred options showed site 5.07a on Fordham Road as allocated for residential development Following a short village consultation, Freckenham Parish Council submitted comments to West Suffolk Council as prepared by our retained consultants, Places4People. The comments included the following: -Freckenham has not had a convenience food shop for many years and the bus service does not provide journey to work services. As such, the Parish Council is of the belief that Freckenham should be classified as a Type-B village in the Local Plan. Alternatively, if it is concluded that it is a Type-A village, it should not be the focus for as much development as those Type-A villages with a higher scoring of services. -Request that West Suffolk puts forward an alternative site, as preferred by the majority of residents, south of Mildenhall Road; -The Parish Council also expressed its strong dissatisfaction at the lack of consideration of the work that the Parish Council has commissioned to support the preparation of its neighbourhood plan. Comments submitted by the County Council on the Local Plan consultation stated that the site 5.07a was no longer available and, as West Suffolk Council have to demonstrate that sites are available when they allocate them, we now know that it will not be pursued. An earlier consultation carried out by the Neighbourhood Plan Group, in October 2020, had identified a preference amongst residents for housing on the site opposite the Village Hall (WS683). Discussions between the Neighbourhood Plan Group, our consultants and the County Council early in the Local Plan consultation informed them that site 5.07a was not supported but that residents had previously indicated support for WS683. At the time it was likely that the Neighbourhood Plan would pursue that option, but the County Council was made aware that a short consultation would be held, referred to above, to gain residents views on the Local Plan proposal. That resulted in the Mildenhall Road site being the one receiving most support, conflicting with what we knew at the time the Local Plan consultation commenced. West Suffolk Council recently announced that the publication of the draft Local Plan has been delayed until Autumn/Winter due to the Government publishing proposed changes in the way, in particular, that Local Plan housing requirements are calculated. We understand that West Suffolk Council are likely to continue to allocate a site for housing in Freckenham in the Local Plan, but this will not be confirmed until the Plan is published for consultation later this year. Discussion at an officer level suggest that they are not supportive of the Mildenhall Road site put forward by the Parish Council in its response last year. Site WS683 (opposite the Village Hall) is preferred by them as it is better related to services and facilities. Given the likelihood that the Local Plan will allocate a site, the Parish Council has decided not to pursue allocating a site for housing in the Neighbourhood Plan as, if we did, there could be a very real danger of ending up with the Local Plan site and Neighbourhood Plan site. The Neighbourhood Plan will instead include policies that set out design and impact criteria for any new development, including housing. The process for preparing the Neighbourhood Plan is now as follows: -15th May 2023 - Draft plan to be approved and signed off by the Parish Council for public consultation -June/July 2023 – Formal public consultation for a period of at least 6 weeks September 2023 – Parish Council review comments on Plan and approve amended Plan be submitted to West Suffolk Council We cannot control West Suffolk’s timetable but once they receive the Plan it will be subject to a further 6 weeks consultation, followed by examination by an Independent Neighbourhood Plan Examiner and, subject to the outcome of the Examination, a Parish Referendum open to those on entitled to vote. This usually takes around 5 months to complete. To clarify the Neighbourhood Plan and West Suffolk Plan are separate plans but would work alongside one another. If the Local Plan allocates a site for housing it will be open to anyone to comment on the pros and cons of that allocation through the Local Plan consultation channel. The Neighbourhood Plan group continue to meet and work hard to put together the plan as intended. Any Neighbourhood Plan has to conform with the “strategic policies” of the West Suffolk Local Plan and this will be tested through an Independent Examination of it. There is no requirement for neighbourhood plans to allocate sites for development, hence we have made the decision to leave the allocation to West Suffolk Council to deal with. The draft plan is currently being written and, as set out above, will be available to residents to view and comment on in the summer. The Parish Council have always listened to the residents, and have acted on behalf of the village as a Parish Council should. The Parish Council have been open and transparent about any decisions made. The Parish Council understand there are residents that object to West Suffolk’s site allocation, but this is a West Suffolk decision not a Parish Council decision. Joint Statement of the Freckenham Parish Council and the Freckenham Neighbourhood Plan Group - 15 March 2023
February 2023 Our planned timetable was again delayed by the launch for consultation of the West Suffolk Local Plan. We needed to see a draft of that in order to ensure that our Neighbourhood Plan is in line with current and future policy. Now that the draft Local Plan has been published, we have revised our timetable as follows:
15th May 2023 - Draft plan to be approved and signed off by the Parish Council
June/July 2023 - Draft plan to be available to local residents for consultation
August 2023 - Final plan submitted to West Suffolk Council (WSC)
September 2023 - WSC approves plan
October/November 2023 - Examination of plan by Ministry HCLG
November/December 2023 - Referendum by local residents
January 2024 - Freckenham Neighbourhood Plan approved.
June 2022Drop in event/consultation.We are holding a drop-in event At The Village Hall on Saturday 2nd July between 10.00am and 3.00pm We hope you will be able to come along and provide us with your feedback. See leaflet which details more information.
Updated timeline to complete the Plan is as follows:
October 2020 - Consultation EventOn 26th September the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held a Public Consultation on the draft plan. The boards on display can be viewed here. September 2020 - Landscape Appraisal, Key Views document and Site Assessment.The Neighbourhood Plan Committee are now pleased to share with you the following documents in regard to the Neighbourhood Plan: Landscape StudyKey ViewsSupporting appendicesSite AssessmentApril 2020 - brief update I’m sure that at the current time, the progress of the Freckenham Neighbourhood Plan (FNP) is the last thing on your mind. But the FNP Sub-Group wanted to reassure you that our work is proceeding as planned. Here is an update on our recent activity: - The Sub-Group met last week using Zoom - a new experience for some of our members, but it worked very well for us.
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