2017 Neighbourhood Plan

Lawshall's Neighbourhood Plan was passed in October 2017. The final version of the plan can be found here. The Plan passed into planning law after a referendum with the following results:

Yes votes 218 (92.76%)
No votes 17 (7.23%)
Turnout 236 (29.24%) Note - the turnout includes one spoiled ballot.

Babergh's Final Decision Statemenent on the Plan can be found here. The Neighbourhood Plan Team was disbanded in November 2018. Members of the team have been appointed by the Parish Council as 'Neighbourhood Plan Watchdogs'. Their role is to help the PC identify how incoming planning proposals sit with the policies in the Neighbourhood Plan. This then then helps the PC in formulating their comments to the District Council who are responsible for decisions on planning applications.

What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

• A Neighbourhood Plan is a community-led framework for guiding the future of development in an area
• Neighbourhood Plans were introduced aspart of a governmental drive toward ‘Localism', handing powers over from government to local areas
• A Neighbourhood Plan is developed by the community. Lawshall's Plan is based on what the community have said through community consultation events, the village questionnaire, the housing needs survey and a number of other activities documented in the Plan.
• Planning applications in Lawshall will be judged against the policies contained in the Plan until the year 2036
• Because we have a Neighbourhood Plan, Lawshall Parish Council will receive a larger cut of funds raised by any new builds in the village. The village will now receive 25% of the ‘Community Infrastructure Levy' rather than 15%.

What are the policies in the Neighbourhood Plan?

There are 16 policies in the Neighbourhood Plan. The contents page of the Plan tells you where each policy can be found. They include:

• Policies regarding where housing would and would not be permissible, how many houses are permissible within a site and what kind of houses are appropriate given Lawshall's needs
• Policies regarding the protection of biodiversity, recreation spaces, green spaces, environmental assets and areas of local landscape sensitivity
• Policies regarding the sensitivity of any new houses to the existing character of Lawshall
• Policies regarding facilities, services and infrastructure in the village including a policy concerning flood risk management.

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All documents relating to the 2017 plan can be found on the left-hand side of this webpage.

Members of the team were asked, in line with our Terms of Reference, to complete a Declarations of Interest form. These forms can be found in the documents bar. For Parish Council members, their PC declarations are duplicated. Signatures have been obscured for security but originals can be viewed on request to the Parish Clerk.

Neighbourhood Plan First Tier Members: Cllr. Andy Irish; Cllr. Mrs L. Williams; Ric Edelman (Chair); Laura McClelland (Public Relations); Tom McClelland, Debbie Thomas (Funding); David Page (Treasurer); Jamie Whatley; Bryan Adams; Lucy Kent (Public Relations); John Kent (Vice Chair); Cathy Acheson; Emily-Rose Debenham; Karen Wilcox (Secretary), Claire Osborne.

Second Tier support: Anthony Brouder; Wendy Harris; Nigel Hughes; Martin Humphries; Ian Carrington; Elizabeth Clarke; Grenville Clarke; Teresa Walters; Clare De'Ath; Brian De'Ath; Simon Haffenden; Lucy Bell; Pamela Pope;