4.10.1 Moulton is situated centrally, towards the west of the district. It is located five kilometres from Newmarket and 19 kilometres from Bury St Edmunds and has a population of approximately 1,318 (2018 mid-year estimate).

4.10.2 It is a modest village in size, with good range of amenities and facilities including:

• a primary school and pre-school
• a pub
• a convenience store
• a playing field.

Constraints and opportunities

• The existing primary school lies to the north of Moulton. An extension to the playing field is allocated in the current local plan.
• There is a good local bus service, with more than one bus an hour.
• Flood zones follow a narrow band north/south through the village along the line of the River Kennett.
• A conservation area covers a large part of the central village area, within which there are a number of listed buildings.
• Packhorse Bridge is a scheduled ancient monument in the centre of the village.
• A county wildlife site lies to the east within the conservation area.
• There are limited, if any opportunities for development within the conservation area.

Settlement status

4.10.3 Moulton is designated as a secondary village in the former Forest Heath

4.10.4 Core Strategy (2010), a settlement category where residential site allocations were not made in the local plan. The village has a large population and a good range of services and facilities to meet day to day needs, equivalent to other local service centres in the district. It is therefore proposed that Moulton moves up to the category of local service centre in the new West Suffolk settlement hierarchy. This means that that site allocations could be made, subject to available sites and any environmental and infrastructure capacity constraints being overcome.

4.10.5 Policy SA15 of the former Forest Heath area Site Allocations Local Plan (2019) allocates 0.75 ha of land for the expansion of Moulton Primary School.

Site options

4.10.6 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.

4.10.7 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.

4.10.8 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.

4.10.9 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.

4.10.10 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.

Moulton settlement constraints map

Moulton settlement map showing SHELAA included sites

Moulton - included SHELAA sites