Neighborhood Development Plan
Update September 2025
In the months since the Examiner’s Report on our neighbourhood plan was published, the Parish Council, with help from our consultants, have been working with Mid Suffolk District Council to prepare a referendum version of our Neighbourhood Plan. That task is ongoing. Once all of the changes have been made and signed off as complete by officers at Mid Suffolk, we will publish the final referendum version of our plan here.
The last step will be a referendum. A simple yes or no vote that will determine if Mid Suffolk District Council formally adopt our Plan. They will also organise and operated the referendum.
At the time of writing (October 2025), we have been told that because a small part of our Plan is now the subject a legal challenge, Mid Suffolk have had to put those referendum plans on hold. They are keeping us updated on the matter.
While we await confirmation of the date of the referendum, we are also excited to be near the end of an intensive but rewarding process. For now, we ask that you please be patient.
We will be sure to publicise any updates as soon as we have them. You can also follow our Plans on the Mid Suffolk District Council website:
https://www.midsuffolk.gov.uk/w/badwell-ash-long-thurlow-neighbourhood-plan
Update March 2025
The draft Plan has been submitted to Mid-Suffolk District Council (MSDC) for consultation and an independent examination. MSDC has begun a 6-week consultation period from Monday 10 March to Friday 25 April 2025, within which period printed copies of the current version of the Plan have been placed in St Mary's church in Badwell Ash.
The submitted Plan and supporting documents can also be found online at
https://www.midsuffolk.gov.uk/w/badwell-ash-long-thurlow-neighbourhood-plan
Update January 2025
Thank you to all for your comments and additions to the draft Neighbourhood Plan, which is being updated for the next stage of its development, and will be presented to Parish Council's next meeting on 4 February.
The Steering Group are readying the Plan for submission to Mid Suffolk District Council who will engage an independent examiner, and in the Summer arrange a referendum to gauge parishioners support.
Background to the Neighbourhood Plan?
The Badwell Ash & Long Thurlow Neighbourhood Plan is a planning policy document written by the community to guide future development in the area over the next 20 years.
If successful at referendum, the Neighbourhood Plan will become part of the statutory development plan for the area. It will be used to determine planning applications.
The fledgling plan group commenced work in late 2022, with a small band led by Cllr Steve Russell TERMS OF REFERENCE
Since then several rounds of public consultation have revealed a number of themes that matter to you; and these have formed the basis for policies by which future planning applications will be judged both by Parish Council, and at Mid-Suffolk District Council.
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READ THE DRAFT PLAN:
Other background documents (for information only)
There was a drop-in exhibition from 10am-2pm on Saturday 28th September and 4pm-8pm on Monday 30th September 2024, both at Badwell Ash Village Hall - poster below. A physical copy of the Neighbourhood Plan was available to be read at St Mary’s Church, Badwell Ash until 8th November.
This consultation closed on 8 November 2024 -thank you for your participation.
Thank you to all those that attended the Neighbourhood Plan drop-in consultation events in January 2024. Results can be seen HERE.
You can still help us by putting a pin and comment on the online map: www.placecheck.info/app/maps/badwellashlongthurlow
A local Steering Group, involving Parish Councillors and local residents. The group are involved in listening to the community to form the content of the Plan.
Members include: Stephen Russell (chair), Peter Dixon, Freya and Iain Horne, Katy Haylock, David Girling, John Morgan and Mark Tomkins, with external expert help. If you would like to get involved, please email badwellashplan@gmail.com.
The area covered by the Neighbourhood Plan is the whole of the parish of Badwell Ash and Long Thurlow.
Below: Parish map of Badwell Ash and Long Thurlow (source: Parish Online, with own annotations). Blue line denotes parish boundary.
