Call for sites to help meet future growth needs of West Suffolk

23 Mar 2026

Developers and landowners are being asked to put forward sites to be considered for potential future growth in West Suffolk. 

West Suffolk Council has issued the call for sites ahead of formally starting work on the preparation of the next local plan for the district. The call for sites will run for a period of eight weeks from the 23 March to 20 May 2026. 

The council adopted the current West Suffolk Local Plan in July last year. The adopted plan runs to the year 2041 and governs where new homes can be built. It also sets aside land to support employment growth and policies to shape the housing that comes forward including to increase the number of affordable homes that are being built.

The preparation of a new local plan for West Suffolk will ensure growth will be plan led. 

With or without a local plan, new housing development will still take place. Local plans serve to protect the countryside as well as against speculative and piecemeal development and ensure infrastructure funding is secured from developers for things such as community facilities, education, health, and transport including roads, footpaths and cycleways.

The call for sites will feed into the next West Suffolk local plan, currently due to cover the period up to 2045.

The council is asking for land to be put forward for consideration for new housing, employment uses, mixed use sites, and for infrastructure and green infrastructure such as parks, allotments, area of biodiversity net gain, play areas and other open space.

The eight-week call for sites will close at 5pm Wednesday 20 May.

No decisions have been taken into what land uses will be allocated. Sites submitted during the call for sites will be assessed to ensure they are suitable, available and achievable for potential development. These assessments will be used to inform the preparation of the local plan.

Cllr Frank Stennett, Cabinet Member for Planning at West Suffolk Council said: “We are at the very early stages at looking at the next local plan beyond our current one, to ensure we can meet the future local homes and business growth needs in West Suffolk."

“One of the first things we need to do is to understand the sites that are available for consideration, and whether they are suitable, available and can be delivered.”

"That is why we are issuing this call for sites not just for land for new homes, but for employment, mixed use site and for infrastructure growth as well as land for parks and other open green space so that we can continue to deliver toward our ambition for a thriving West Suffolk.”

Further details on the call for sites consultation can be found on the West Suffolk Planning Policy InConsult webpage.

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