West Suffolk Local Plan to increase affordable housing is adopted

15 Jul 2025

West Suffolk Council’s priority to deliver more affordable housing has seen it become one of the first local planning authorities in the country to put in place a 40 per cent policy for greenfield sites.

The council this evening adopted its local plan which has been five years in the making and shaped by 6,400 comments made across three stages of public consultation.

The local plan delivers on West Suffolk Council’s four strategic priorities for affordable, available and decent homes, thriving communities, sustainable growth and environmental resilience.

Alongside a new policy to increase affordable housing delivery, the West Suffolk Local Plan will also deliver homes that are more sustainable with measures such as solar panels on roofs wherever practically possible. Residents living in them will have cheaper energy while it will also reduce carbon emissions which impact on climate change.

Future homes in West Suffolk will also be built to better support people’s health and wellbeing.

The new local plan brings in a policy to ensure space standards for rooms and gardens in all new houses in West Suffolk as well as balconies for flats.

It seeks to address the growing need for homes that can be accessible adapted to people’s changing health needs, particularly as people get older. That means that residents will be able to continue to access and enjoy their own home for longer which is better for them, their families and reduces the impact on health and social care.

Other policies include:

• The retention, restoration, enhancement and creation of green infrastructure (GI) is encouraged with all greenfield residential developments of 50 homes or more providing around 40 per cent GI on site to create places that are green and healthy
• The retention of trees, woodland and hedgerows on development sites is strongly encouraged as is the planting of new trees to improve the districts canopy cover
• The council's first local plan policy for health and wellbeing, recognising that development plays a role in the health of communities.

The West Suffolk Local Plan allocates sites for 4,963 new homes alongside 8,712 that already have planning permission, to be built between now and the year 2041. It sets aside 85 hectares for employment growth ensuring there is land to support the growth of existing West Suffolk businesses keeping jobs in our area as well as encouraging the growth of new businesses and attracting others to relocate. There is also a stronger emphasis to safeguard employment land and community uses across West Suffolk.

Importantly, the West Suffolk Local Plan means the council has a five-year land supply. That means the council is able to refuse applications for other sites and better protects the democratic voice of communities and councillors to have their say on the planning applications that come in.

By allocating where homes can be built, the local plan insures against piecemeal development and can better secure developer funding to meet and deliver wider infrastructure needs such as road, footpaths and cycleways. It also means that the council can protect the countryside and against harmful speculative development such as infilling.

The creation of local plans has to follow a process set out by government including three stages of public consultation and independent public scrutiny by a national planning inspector.

The new affordable housing policy will mean that a developer applying to build 10 or more homes on a greenfield site will have to make 40 per cent of them for affordable housing compared to 30 per cent seen in many other places nationally.

Affordable Housing includes shared ownership as well as affordable rent which is set at 80 per cent of market rents, and social rent which is around 45 per cent of market rents. Both rent schemes are for people on the Home-Link housing register. West Suffolk currently has more than 2,500 households on its register including more than 900 in urgent or high housing need.

Cllr Jim Thorndyke, Cabinet Member for Planning at West Suffolk Council said: “This is a local plan that will increase the number of affordable homes that are built to better meet the needs of people on our housing register. It is a local plan that will secure homes that are more sustainable, that are cheaper to run and better for the environment. It is a local plan that has people’s health and wellbeing at its core – working to secure homes that deliver better living standards, and that people can continue to access and enjoy when they get older.”

Cllr Cliff Waterman, Leader of West Suffolk Council said: “This local plan ensures the council’s ambition to make West Suffolk a thriving community can come to life.

“It ensures there’s land to meet the future housing needs of West Suffolk providing the opportunity for people’s children and grandchildren to carry on living in this wonderful part of the world as they themselves grow up and have their own families.”

“It means that businesses in West Suffolk will have land to expand, so that they can both create and keep jobs here rather than having to look elsewhere to grow. It caters for new businesses including start-ups and others that recognise the benefits of West Suffolk’s strategic location.”

“And it protects other areas from development such as the countryside while also providing the mechanism for negotiating vital infrastructure funding to benefit existing and future communities in West Suffolk.”

“I am hugely proud of all that this West Suffolk Local Plan strives to achieve toward our ambition for a thriving West Suffolk. My thanks once again to residents, our officers and local councillors from across the political spectrum who have helped us shape this plan over the past five years.”

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