4.10.1. Rougham is a small village with a population of 1,207 (2019 parish mid-year estimate for Rushbrooke with Rougham), located approximately 11 kilometres from Bury St Edmunds. It has a reasonable range of services and facilities including a primary school, shop and post office and leisure facilities. Although close to Bury St Edmunds it has a poor bus service.

Constraints and opportunities

• The scale of growth will be dependent on local environmental and infrastructure capacity and will need to respect the landscape setting and attractive the character of Rougham.
• There is no designated conservation area but there are sites of various periods recorded in the county historic environment record (HER) in the parish of Rougham.
• The surrounding landscape in the Rougham area is relatively flat; key views to the south should be protected.
• Local roads are rural in nature and new development may need to upgrade roads and/or junctions and pedestrian paths. Rougham is close to the Rookery Crossroads on the A14 towards Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich.
• Bus services are less frequent than hourly or operate during limited times.
• Any large scale development has the potential to impact negatively on the character of the settlement. However, small scale peripheral extension may be possible.

Preferred allocations 

4.10.2. Further information on alternative site options considered but not taken forward can be seen in the table of omission sites in appendix B.

4.10.3. The allocated site, RV24a in the former St Edmundsbury Rural Vision 2031 local plan, has outline planning permission for 13 dwellings. The new site is adjacent to the settlement boundary south of site RV24a and is currently occupied by farm buildings. This previously used land will provide approximately 11 dwellings.

4.10.4. Two sites are proposed comprising as preferred sites for residential development in Rougham (Kingshall Street) which together would provide approximately 24 dwellings.

4.10.5. The level of development proposed is influenced by the overall housing requirement and the settlement strategy. This determines the distribution of development across the district as well as the existing environmental and physical constraints and the overall capacity for growth in the Further information on how housing numbers have been derived can be seen in part one of the local plan.

4.10.6. Information on infrastructure can be seen in the draft infrastructure delivery plan (IDP) (2022) which sets out baseline data for each settlement.

Rougham settlement constraints map

Rougham preferred allocations map