Decision Details

That Cabinet: 

1. Approved the content and conclusions of the Review Assessment of the East Suffolk Council – Suffolk Coastal Local Plan (Appendix A of this report) and agreed that this is published.

2. Approved the content of the Interim Housing Position Statement (Appendix B of the report) and agreed that this is published.

3. Noted the position in relation to Local Plan preparation and that this report will be published on the Council’s Local Development Scheme webpage along with a brief update as set out in paragraph 2.60, and authorises the Head of Planning and Building Control, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Planning and Coastal Management, to make any further updates to the webpage in
this regard prior to the approval of a Local Plan Timetable.

4. Authorised future technical updates to the Interim Housing Position Statement to be undertaken by the Head of Planning and Building Control in consultation with the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Planning and Coastal Management.

5. Authorised the Head of Planning and Building Control, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Planning and Coastal Management, to make any typographical or presentational changes to the Review Assessment of the Suffolk Coastal Local Plan and the Interim Housing Position Statement prior to their publication. 

The reasons for the recommendations were:

To meet the statutory requirement to review a local plan within five years from the date of adoption to consider whether it needs updating;

The preparation of the Interim Housing Position Statement provides clarity in relation to the housing land supply position and on decision making in the Suffolk Coastal Local Plan area (as well as the Waveney Local Plan area);

The update on Local Plan preparation provides Members and the wider public and stakeholders with an up to date position.

The alternative option to the recommendation of the report was to not undertake and publish a Review Assessment for the Suffolk Coastal Local Plan. This was not considered a  viable option given the statutory requirement to undertake this assessment.

Cabinet could have decided not to publish the Interim Housing Position Statement. However, as set out in the Risks section above, this would result in an inconsistency in the provision of guidance between the Waveney Local Plan area and Suffolk Coastal Local Plan area.

The report was not seeking a decision on preparing an East Suffolk Local Plan, as it had already been committed to through the decision taken in March 2025 to approve the Local Development Scheme, and there are therefore no options to set out.