Sutton residents who have postal votes have now received their postal ballot papers: one for the district council elections, and one for the Sutton Neighbourhood Plan.  Those who vote at the polling station on Thursday 2 May will also receive the same two ballot papers.

A number of people have expressed their uncertainty to me about the Plan and what it means for our village. So I want to use this opportunity to say that I’ll be voting YES to the Plan and to explain why.

(NOTE: the law isn’t helpful here.  The question on the ballot paper isn’t at all explanatory, but it’s set down by law, so the parish council has no choice about it.  The parish council also isn’t allowed to encourage residents to vote one way or the other, and there are restrictive legal limits to how much it can spend to tell local people about it).

(Also NOTE: you can read the Plan here).

• IT’S OUR PLAN: The Sutton Neighbourhood Plan isn’t something imposed on our village from outside.  It’s a document drawn up over several years with consultation along the way including a big open day at The Glebe, a consultation event for local businesses at the Elean Business Park, and information in the parish council newsletter and online.  It’s been put together by local volunteers from the village, with help from a professional planning consultant paid for entirely by grant money.

• IT’S OUR SAY: We all have a simple YES or NO vote.  If we vote YES, then the district council will go through the formality of accepting the Plan.  It’s already done this with Fordham, the first village in East Cambridgeshire to have a Neighbourhood Plan.  Fordham residents voted last year on their Plan and supported it very strongly.  If we vote NO, our plan is not adopted.

• IT HAS LEGAL STATUS: If we vote YES, the Neighbourhood Plan is accepted by the district council, and stands as a document with legal force. The district council will have to pay attention to what our Plan says when it considers planning applications received for Sutton.  And because it would be more recent than the district council’s own Local Plan for East Cambridgeshire, our Neighbourhood Plan would have greater legal force than the district council’s Local Plan. 

• IT WILL CONTROL DEVELOPMENT: Sutton’s Neighbourhood Plan can’t overturn planning permission already given by the district council. So, for example, it can’t overturn the permission for the 53 dwellings at Garden Close, or the 77 dwellings at the top of Mepal Road.  But it can place figures against future developments, and say where these should (and should not) take place.  We know that Linden Homes ultimately wants to build 427 homes at the top of Mepal Road, not just the 77 they’ve already got permission for.  Our Plan, if we agree to support it, would limit this to around 250 dwellings.  The Plan can’t force facilities to be built, or buses to be provided. But it can do other things of value for our village. The Plan sets a development envelope for the village outside which development would not normally be allowed.  It identifies a number of Local Green Spaces for additional protection.  It says that development on the Garden Close site should be predominantly low-density and single-storey.  It seeks to protect the local environment and historic character of the village. All the policies are explained in the Plan, along with why they matter.

• IT WILL BRING MONEY: Developers building larger schemes of more than 10 units have to pay a sum called the Community Infrastructure Levy towards the infrastructure needed to support their developments.  At the moment, without a Neighbourhood Plan, Sutton Parish Council receives only 15 per cent of this money for local amenities.  With a Neighbourhood Plan in place, we would receive 25 per cent of these contributions: more money to spend on the ‘community actions’ which are also listed in the Plan, including play and sports facilities and access to the surrounding countryside.

I know there has been some scepticism expressed about the Plan.  But this isn’t a choice between this Plan or a better but non-existent Plan.  It’s between this Plan or no Plan.  The Sutton Neighbourhood Plan has been put together by local residents over several years to ensure that as far as possible development in our village happens to our specification, and developers don’t have the field day they’ve had up to now. 

I’ll be voting for the Plan, and I hope other residents of Sutton will do so too.

Declaration: I have been part of the team working on the Plan for some time, along with a number of parish councillors and other local residents.  This post is written in a personal capacity.  I have no financial interest in the Plan or its outcome, nor in any land or property in Sutton other than my own home in the High Street.