Part Three: Site Allocations

Employment and mixed-use

Preferred employment and mixed-use allocations

7.1. The employment land review study (2021) has informed the distribution of employment sites across the district, as well as the existing environmental and physical constraints and the overall capacity for growth. In addition, the level of development proposed is influenced by the overall assessment of employment land requirements and the spatial strategy. Further information on how employment requirement has been derived can be seen in part one of the local plan.

7.2. The tables below identify new and existing preferred strategic and non-strategic employment, mixed-use and retail and commercial leisure use sites. The proposed sites will be protected in order to maintain an adequate supply of land for these uses. These sites are identified on the draft policies map. For mixed-use sites the indicative capacity relates to the part of the site proposed for employment use.

7.3. The three made neighbourhood plans of Great Barton, Hargrave and Newmarket set specific policy and guidance relating to employment, commercial and retail and leisure uses in these designated areas.

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

Additional information

7.5. For a number of the existing local plan allocations additional information is sought to demonstrate the employment area can come forward in the local plan period before it can be taken forward to the submission stage of this local plan. This includes evidence of the types of use sought and when it is expected to be delivered. Further work is being carried out to determine the types of employment uses on the site.

7.6. For the following sites additional information is required to demonstrate the employment areas can come forward in the local plan period before they can be taken forward to the submission stage of this local plan.

3.01c land east of Barrow Hill.
3.01d Barrow Business Park.
3.07b Shepherds Grove, Stanton

New strategic employment and mixed-use allocations

New policy reference	Existing policy reference	Settlement	Site	Indicative capacity in hectares (ha)	Nature of proposal	Policy considerations
2.02a	WS277	Bury St Edmunds	Land at Rougham Airfield	20 ha	Proposed for employment-led growth with some housing	See site reference 2.02a in Bury St Edmunds section
2.05a	WS145(A)	Newmarket	Additional land at Hatchfield Farm	5 ha	Proposed for mixed employment and residential use	See site reference 2.05a in Newmarket section

Existing strategic employment and mixed-use allocations to be carried forward

New policy reference	Existing policy reference	Settlement	Site	Indicative capacity in hectares (ha)	Nature of proposal	Policy considerations
2.02i	BV13	Bury St Edmunds	Suffolk Business Park extension	72.34 ha (of which 13 ha remaining capacity at 2021)	Existing employment allocation	Existing adopted policy requirements to be applied.
2.04a	SA4(a)	Mildenhall	Land west of Mildenhall	5 ha	Existing mixed-use allocation (employment, residential and Mildenhall Hub)	See site reference 2.04a in Mildenhall section Details to be agreed to determine the appropriate types of employment uses and their deliverability
2.04d	SA17(a)	Mildenhall	Mildenhall College Academy and Dome Leisure Centre site	4 ha	Existing employment allocation	Existing policy requirements to be applied. Details to be agreed to determine the appropriate types of employment uses and their deliverability
2.05b	SA6(g)	Newmarket	Land at Hatchfield Farm	5 ha	Existing mixed-use allocation (employment, residential and school)	See site reference 2.05b in Newmarket section Details to be agreed to determine the appropriate types of employment uses and their deliverability
3.06a	SA10(a)	Red Lodge	Land north of Acorn Way	8 ha	Existing mixed-use allocation for employment, residential and school	See site reference 3.06a in Red Lodge section Details to be agreed to determine the appropriate types of employment uses and their deliverability
3.07b	RV4(j - part)	Stanton	Shepherds Grove	31 ha (part of site remaining undeveloped at 2021)	Existing employment allocation	Existing policy requirements to be applied. Additional information is required to demonstrate the site can come forward in the local plan period before it can be taken forward to the submission stage of the local plan process.

New non-strategic employment and mixed use allocations

New policy reference	Existing policy reference	Settlement	Site	Indicative capacity in hectares (ha)	Nature of proposal	Policy considerations
2.04c	WS141	Mildenhall	Land west of Folly Road	2.5 ha for employment uses	Proposed for mixed employment and residential use	See site reference 2.04c in Mildenhall section
5.05a	WSE13	Fornham All Saints	Land adjacent to Moseley Farm	Up to 1.7 ha	Employment use and possible extension of cemetery	See below
5.06b	WSE02	Fornham St Genevieve	Land adjacent to Park Farm	4.4 ha	Employment use	See below

Policy and capacity considerations for the following sites:

Site 5.05a – land adjacent to Moseley Farm, Fornham All Saints

Appropriate landscaped boundary will be required to the west, north and eastern boundaries.
Explore opportunity to provide extension to cemetery to east of the site.
Site is suited to low density employment use which can assimilate with existing Moseley Farm site, in well-designed new buildings of an appropriate scale, height and type of use. This should reflect the rural location and single storey dwellings adjacent to the site.
The site lies within a conservation area
A development brief will be required for the site prior to the determination of any planning application.
Details to be agreed to determine the appropriate types of employment uses and their deliverability.

Site 5.06b – land adjacent to Park Farm, Fornham St Genevieve

Site is suited to low density employment use which can assimilate with existing Park Farm site, retaining existing open space
Appropriate landscaped boundary will be required to the north, east and south of the site.
New buildings to be well-designed, of an appropriate scale, height and type of use to reflect the rural location of the site
Details to be agreed to determine the appropriate types of employment uses and their deliverability
Opportunities should be fully explored to consolidate existing employment uses on the existing Park Farm allocation prior to developing the adjoining field
Opportunities for sustainable modes of transport to and from the site to be fully explored.
A development brief will be required for the site, including showing relationship with existing Park Farm prior to the determination of any planning application.

Existing non-strategic employment and mixed-use allocations to be carried forward

New policy reference	Existing policy reference	Settlement	Site	Indicative capacity in hectares (ha)	Nature of proposal	Policy considerations
2.02j	BV16	Bury St Edmunds	British Sugar Sites – areas north of Compiegne Way	38.90ha	Uses in connection with the on-going operation and continued growth	Carried forward to safeguard British Sugar factory’s on-going operation and future growth. Existing policy requirements to be applied.
2.03c	HV7 (a)	Haverhill	Wisdom Factory, Duddery Hill	1.5ha	Mixed-use	See site reference 2.03c in Haverhill section
2.03d	HV7 (b)	Haverhill	Chauntry Mill, High Street	1.2ha	Mixed-use	See site reference 2.03d in Haverhill section
3.01c	RV10	Barrow	Land east of Barrow Hill	1 ha	Proposed employment	The wider site is an existing allocation in the local plan for residential and employment uses. The residential part of the scheme has been implemented but the employment element remains undelivered. Additional information is required to demonstrate the employment area can come forward in the local plan period before it can be taken forward to the submission stage of the local plan.

Proposed and existing established employment areas

7.7. Proposed and existing established employment areas listed by towns or elsewhere in the district are identified in the tables below and on the policies map.

Policy Reference	Existing site reference	Settlement	Employment area	Land available as at Sept 2021 in hectares (ha)
2.03g	HV9(a)	Haverhill	Bumpstead Road	1.58 ha
2.03h	HV9(b)	Haverhill	Falconer Road	2.77 ha
2.03i	HV10 (part)	Haverhill	Haverhill Research Park	0.68 ha
3.01d	RV4a	Barrow	Barrow Business Park	1.1 ha
5.05b	None	Fornham All Saints	Moseley Farm	2.16ha
5.06c	None	Fornham St Genevieve	Park Farm	7.15ha
5.06d	None	Fornham St Genevieve	Hall Farm	3.93ha
6.28b	RV4k (north and south)	Little Wratting	Karro Foods site, Haverhill Road	2.37 ha

7.8. Existing employment sites with no land available as at September 2021 are listed below

Policy Reference	Existing site reference	Settlement	Employment area
2.01b	SA16(b)	Brandon	Land at Station Way
2.01c	SA16(c)	Brandon	Land south of railway line
2.01d	SA16(d)	Brandon	Land south of London Road
2.01e	SA16(e)	Brandon	Land south of Mile End
2.02k	BV14(a)	Bury St Edmunds	Anglian Lane
2.02l	BV14(b)	Bury St Edmunds	Barton Road
2.02m	BV14(c)	Bury St Edmunds	Blenheim Park
2.02n	BV14(d)	Bury St Edmunds	British Sugar, Hollow Road and areas north of Compiegne Way
2.02o	BV14(e)	Bury St Edmunds	Suffolk Business Park
2.02p	BV14(f)	Bury St Edmunds	Chapel Pond Hill
2.02q	BV14(g)	Bury St Edmunds	Eastern Way
2.02r	BV14(h)	Bury St Edmunds	Enterprise Park, Etna Road
2.02s	BV14(i)	Bury St Edmunds	Mildenhall Road
2.02t	BV14(j)	Bury St Edmunds	Moreton Hall
2.02u	BV14(k)	Bury St Edmunds	Northern Way
2.02v	BV14(l)	Bury St Edmunds	Western Way
2.02w	BV14(m)	Bury St Edmunds	Greene King, Friars Lane
2.02x	BV14(n)	Bury St Edmunds	Rougham Industrial Estate
2.03j	HV9(c)	Haverhill	Haverhill Industrial Estate
2.03k	HV9(d)	Haverhill	Homefield Road
2.03l	HV9(e)	Haverhill	Stour Valley Road
2.04e	SA16(k) (incorporating former sites SA16(l) which has been implemented	Mildenhall	Industrial estate north of the settlement
2.05e	SA16(m) (incorporating former sites SA17(b) St Ledger which has been implemented within the site)	Newmarket	Industrial estate north of the settlement
3.02d	RV4c	Clare	Chilton Street Business Park
3.02e	RV4d	Clare	Bridewell Business Estate
3.05g	SA16j	Lakenheath	Station Road
3.06d	SA16n	Red Lodge	North of the settlement
3.07c	RV4j (existing developed part of site)	Stanton/Hepworth	Shepherd's Grove
4.02c	SA16a	Beck Row	land east of Mildenhall Drove
4.04b	SA16f	Exning	land south of Swan Lane
5.02a	RV4e	Barnham	Gorse Industrial Estate
5.04c	RV4b	Chedburgh	Chedburgh
5.11a	RV4f	Ingham	Ingham
5.12a	SA16g	Kentford	land south of Bury Road, Lanwades Business Park
5.12b	SA16h	Kentford	land south of Gazeley Road
5.12c	SA16i	Kentford	land south of Bury Road
5.14a	RV4h	Risby	Risby Business Park
6.28a	RV4i	Saxham	Saxham

7.9. Three new employment areas are proposed at Moseley Farm, Park Farm and Hall Farm in recognition of their role and function as existing established rural employment areas.

Retail, commercial leisure and mixed use allocations

7.10. The following non-strategic retail, commercial leisure and mixed use allocations are being re-allocated in this plan, in response to evidence set out in the retail and main town centre uses study 2022. The nature of the uses proposed on the two sites identified has been broadened to reflect the recommendations of the study. We now propose to allocate them for mixed commercial uses, which would allow the potential for new retail and leisure floorspace to come forward.

7.11. Further information on the retail requirements of this local plan can be seen in part one of this local plan.

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

Existing non-strategic retail and commercial leisure uses allocations

New policy reference

Existing policy reference

Settlement

Site

Indicative capacity in hectares (ha)

Nature of proposal

Policy considerations

2.02y

BV9 (part)

Bury St Edmunds

Land at Tayfen Road

1.18ha

Existing allocation proposed for mixed commercial

Part of the site is being brought forward for residential development. The remainder of the site is suitable for mixed commercial uses.

See policy BV9 for policy considerations.

3.05a

SA7a

Lakenheath

Matthews Nursery

1.86ha

Existing allocation proposed for mixed commercial and residential

Part of the site is being brought forward for residential development. The remainder of the site is suitable for mixed commercial uses.

See site reference 3.05a in the Lakenheath section for policy considerations.

7.13. The following five town centres and their primary shopping area boundaries are shown on the policies map.

New town centre policy reference	New primary shopping area boundary policy reference	Town centres
2.01f	2.01f(psa)	Brandon
2.02z	2.02z(psa)	Bury St Edmunds
2.03m	2.03m(psa)	Haverhill
2.04f	2.04f(psa)	Mildenhall
2.05f	2.05f(psa)	Newmarket

7.14. The following proposed and existing local centres are shown on the policies map.

New policy reference	Existing local centres	Settlement
2.02aa	Barton Road	Bury St Edmunds
2.02ab	Cadogan Road	Bury St Edmunds
2.02ac	Glastonbury Road	Bury St Edmunds
2.02ad	Hardwick Precinct	Bury St Edmunds
2.02ae	Lake Avenue Parade	Bury St Edmunds
2.02af	Moreton Hall	Bury St Edmunds
2.02ag	The Parade, Ridley Road	Bury St Edmunds
2.02ah	St Olaves Precinct	Bury St Edmunds
2.02ai	Stamford Court	Bury St Edmunds
2.03n	Hales Barn	Haverhill
2.03o	Strasbourg Square	Haverhill
2.03p	Leiston Road	Haverhill
2.03q	Blair Parade	Haverhill
2.03r	Hanchett End	Haverhill
2.05g	Valley Way	Newmarket
2.05h	Elizabeth Avenue	Newmarket
2.05i	St Johns Close	Mildenhall
3.01e		Barrow
3.02f		Clare
3.03d		Ixworth
3.04c		Kedington
3.05h		Lakenheath
3.06e		Red Lodge
3.07d		Stanton

Proposed new local centres

New policy reference	New local centres are allocated at	Settlement
2.02c	North-west Bury St Edmunds strategic site	Bury St Edmunds
2.02d	Moreton Hall strategic site	Bury St Edmunds
2.02f	North-east Bury St Edmunds strategic site	Bury St Edmunds
2.02g	South-east Bury St Edmunds strategic site	Bury St Edmunds
2.03a	North-west Haverhill strategic site	Haverhill
2.03b	Tow local centres at north-east Haverhill strategic site	Haverhill
2.04a	Land west of Mildenhall strategic site	Mildenhall

7.15. A part of the consultation the council is inviting the submission of employment, mixed use and retail and commercial leisure sites as part of the call for sites. If you are aware of any other potential sites in West Suffolk that are available for development which are not identified in this document then please let us know by completing the 'call for sites May to July 2022' form, providing details of the site location and a map with a red outline of the site boundary.

West Suffolk Local Plan (Regulation 18) Preferred Options

7. Employment, mixed use, retail and commercial leisure use allocations

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