Consultation on new checklist for planning applicants in West Suffolk

21 Nov 2025

West Suffolk Council has opened a consultation on changes relating to the documents that have to be submitted as part of planning applications.

The consultation, which will run until 5pm on 19 December 2025, is on changes to the council’s Local Validation Requirements - a checklist of matters that developers and other applicants preparing a planning application need to consider and submit with their planning application.

It follows directly on from the council’s adoption of the West Suffolk Local Plan in the summer. The council has reviewed and updated its Local Validation Requirements to ensure that they reflect and deliver on the local plan policies which were themselves shaped through public consultation.

West Suffolk is now consulting on 38 Local Validation Requirements covering everything from affordable housing to the mix of housing on a development, the size of new homes and tenure, through to parking, travel plans as well as providing open space and community facilities.

The updated requirements also include environmental considerations such as biodiversity, climate change, flood risk, air quality and impact on health as well as requirements relating to the economy such as the impact on the horse racing industry, town centres, employment land, and leisure and community facilities.

Applicants for planning permission do not need to respond to all 38 of the requirements but they will need to address matters which are relevant to their proposals.

As with any local planning authority, the council already has existing Local Validation Requirements in place. Anybody currently seeking pre-application advice or visiting the council’s webpages for information about submitting an application, is guided through the Local Validation Requirements that are relevant to the location type and scale of development. Where an application does not meet the relevant requirements, it is effectively put on hold for the applicant to address.

Subject to the consultation, the new Local Validation Requirements will come into effect early next year.

Cllr Frank Stennett, Cabinet Member for Planning at West Suffolk Council, said: “The adoption of the West Suffolk Local Plan, shaped by public consultation, has provided a natural point for us to review and update what it is that we require from planning applicants.

This will ensure that the information coming forward in planning applications is aligned to delivering on the policies and ambitions set out on the West Suffolk Local Plan, supporting a thriving West Suffolk.”

“The updated Local Validation Requirements will also help guide anybody who is preparing a planning application so that they understand what it is that they will need to address for their application to be validated, consulted upon and determined. That is why we are encouraging people to view the draft document and to give their feedback, to help shape the future.”

The consultation is now open. For more details visit the council's consultation webpage.

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