4.1.1. Barningham is a village with a population of 941 (2019 mid-year estimate), located approximately 17 kilometres north-east of Bury St Edmunds and 13 kilometres south-west of Thetford. The village has a reasonable range of facilities, including a shop and post office, a primary school and leisure facilities.

4.1.2. The parish council are preparing a neighbourhood plan. The neighbourhood plan area was designated by West Suffolk Council on 18 April 2017.

Constraints and opportunities

• Barningham has good vehicular access to the main A143 and A1066 via the B1111. However, there may be a requirement to assess local junction capacity within the village in order to serve new development.
• County archaeological sites border Barningham to the north, west and south which would require further investigation if new development was to be considered in these locations.
• Sandy Lane forms a physical boundary to development north of the village.
• Several areas of open space which contribute to the villages character lie within the present built up area of Barningham.
• Two protected biodiversity action plan (BAP) species sites lie to the west of the village.
• Consideration needs to be given to the impact on views from the south of the settlement.
• There is a small cluster of listed buildings in the Church Road and Mill Road area, however the village does not have a conservation area designation.
• There is a flood zone located to the north of Barningham which would constrain any large housing development in this direction.
• There is at least an hourly bus service from 9am (at the latest) to 5pm (at the earliest).
• An area of grade 2 best and most versatile agricultural land wraps around the west side of the village with grade 3 land to the south and east.
• The scale of growth will be dependent on local environmental and infrastructure capacity.

 Preferred allocations

4.1.3.  One new site is proposed as a preferred site for residential development in Barningham providing an indicative capacity of 50 dwellings. The level of development proposed in Barningham 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 settlement. Further information on how housing numbers have been derived can be seen in part one of the local plan.

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

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

Barningham settlement constraints map

Barningham preferred allocations map