Neighbourhood Plan

 

 

Hintlesham and Chattisham Parish Council is sponsoring the development of a Neighbourhood Plan for the Parishes.

After a wide ranging consultation process, our draft Neighbourhood Plan has been assessment by an external independent assessor and has BEEN DEEMED TO MEET THE REQUIRED BASIC CONDITIONS and a recommendation made to Babergh Council that the Plan proceeds to a local referendum.

 

The assessor's report is included on the following pages

Planning Practice Guidance also reminds us that this neighbourhood plan is now a material consideration in planning terms

The revised draft plan and associated documents were submitted to Babergh Council in JANUARY 2026 -these documents too are available on the next page. 

What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

It is a Plan agreed by local people to decide how their parish should develop - or not - over the next decade or so. Whether the Plan is approved will ultimately be decided at a Parish Referendum when, if a majority of residents who vote , agree with the Plan, Babergh District Council will be required to adopt it.

When complete, it sits alongside the Local Plan for Babergh and national planning policies and is used by the District Council when making decisions on planning applications. That is why a Neighbourhood Plan is so important. 

Following broad community consultation in September 2025, your comments were adopted into the Plan and changes to the initial draft plan were made.

Your detailed comments and the responses made,  are available for your review on the updates page,  within the Consultation Statement.

A summary of the Plan is provided in the Addendum Basic Conditions Statement

 

 Next Steps-

1. A local referendum to seek support for the adoption of the Plan.  This is a process managed by Babergh Council and details will be provided here when they are available.

2. Consultation will begin on developing a detailed Housing Chapter to add in to our Neighbourhood Plan.  This chapter will need to identify sites within both Hintlesham and Chattisham where houses can be built in order to meet the demands of Central Government for additional housing.  The criteria for future development which we have set out in our Neighbourhood Plan will inform our choice of possible new sites from the options provided by landowners though the Call for Sites process i.e. no backfill, retaining the linear character of the villages and retaining separation between our villages and surrounding parishes/towns.  

More information on these processes will follow as it becomes available.