5.3.1 Chedburgh is a village with a population of 679 (2018 mid-year estimate). The village is located approximately 10 kilometres south-west of Bury St Edmunds and 18 kilometres south-east of Newmarket. The village has a limited range of facilities including Little Teapots Playgroup and a playing field.

Constraints and opportunities

• The village has four areas of amenity open space. A large area of recreation open space is located to the east and north-west of the village.
• The surrounding topography of the village is flat and should not constrain development. The A143 forms a significant defensible boundary to contain new development to the north of the road.
• There are only a small number of listed buildings in Chedburgh and there is no conservation area.
• There is one county archaeological site that is within the village boundary.
• Chedburgh has two main employment sites, one to the east of The Street and the second south of the A143.
• The village and the surrounding countryside are not classified as being within a flood zone risk area.
• The village has good transport links with direct access onto the A143. There is a travel-to-work bus service from Chedburgh to Bury St Edmunds. It is also possible to reach Haverhill on public transport.
• Chedburgh church and hall lie to the east of The Green and The Street. A Roman site is recorded to the north-west of The Green in the county Historic County Environment Record, and there are several cropmark sites around the village.

Settlement status

5.3.2 Chedburgh is designated as a local service centre in the current local plan in recognition of the role it has to play in serving the residents of the village and those who live in the surrounding rural area. It is proposed to redesignate Chedburgh as a Type A village in the new West Suffolk settlement hierarchy, in recognition that the village lacks the level of services and facilities required to justify maintaining it as a local service centre. This would mean that the opportunity for allocating small sites in or adjacent to the village could still be explored through the preparation of the local plan.

5.3.3 The former St Edmundsbury area Rural Vision 2031 (2014) allocated one site in the village for 10 dwellings. To date no application has been submitted for development on the site.

Site options

5.3.4 The level of development will be influenced by the settlement strategy which will determine the distribution of development across the district as well as the existing environmental and physical constraints and the overall capacity for growth in the settlement.

5.3.5 A number of sites have been submitted to the council by landowners and developers for potential inclusion in the local plan. Included sites in the Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA) that lie within or adjacent to the settlement boundary are shown on the map below, as these have passed the initial tests of being suitable, available and achievable, and so are more likely to be sites that could be suitable for allocation in the local plan.

5.3.6 It is important to note that at this stage these sites have not been selected as preferred sites for development, but we are seeking views on them to assist with the preparation of the next draft of the plan, where decisions will be made on which, if any, sites would be suitable for allocation.

5.3.7 The table below provides information on these sites, setting out information on the proposed use and planning status. Also below is a map of the main settlement constraints to assist you in making a response.

5.3.8 Your comments on these sites will help in drawing up the next draft of the West Suffolk Local Plan for consultation in 2021. This will set out the council’s preferred options for the distribution of housing and other land uses across the district. The council will also consult on the preferred sites across the district to achieve this distribution.

Chedburgh settlement constraints map

Chedburgh settlement map showing SHELAA included sites

Chedburgh - included SHELAA sites