Over 300 sites to be assessed for new West Suffolk Local Plan

26 Aug 2026

Over 300 sites are being assessed after they were submitted to West Suffolk Council as part of its recent ‘call for sites’ for possible inclusion in its next local plan.

No decisions have been made on any of the sites and there will be plenty of opportunity for residents to have their say during two stages of public consultation, the first of which is due to take place next year.

Developers and landowners have put forward sites for consideration for housing, employment, infrastructure and green infrastructure such as parks, playing fields, allotments and woodland.

Now the council is assessing each of the 328 sites in line with Government guidance, to understand if they are potentially suitable, available and deliverable in the timescales of the new West Suffolk Local Plan.

Cllr Frank Stennett, Cabinet Member for Planning at West Suffolk Council said: “We know that some developers have already chosen to start marketing their sites to local communities and that has set off some alarm bells among residents. I am not about to pass comment on any particular site. But what I can say is that we are still at a very early stage in the preparation of the next local plan. No decisions have been made on any sites. We are listening to residents and there will be a public consultation next year in which we will be encouraging everyone to have their say.”

Once adopted, the local plan will govern where new homes may be built over the plan period. The council has to allocate land for the delivery of around 1,200 homes a year to meet the Government’s local housing need assessment.

The local plan will also allocate land for employment use, supporting the needs of new and growing businesses and consider the infrastructure needs to support sustainable development in West Suffolk.

Having an up-to-date local plan gives the council the power to resist potentially harmful speculative development and guard against piecemeal development so that the necessary funds for transport, education, health and other infrastructure can be secured.

A map including details of all 328 sites submitted by landowners and developers in the call for sites, is due to be published next month. West Suffolk will then publish its assessment of each site in the autumn.

But even then, no decisions will have been made about the allocation of sites in the Local Plan.

Part of the consultation next year will be to understand people’s views on one of the central building blocks for a local plan, the spatial strategy. This sets out how new housing growth is to be distributed across the district over the plan period.

There will also be a further stage of public consultation, currently scheduled to take place in 2028, on a draft version of the new West Suffolk Local Plan.

Residents are encouraged to register now on the council’s local plan consultation system to make sure they are kept informed and engaged at every opportunity.
 

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