What has happened so far?

On 14th October 2023:  An Open Event was held at the Village Hall which set out the importance of having a Plan to give the community a voice for the future with regard to planning matters as well as facilities/amenities.  From this it was agreed that there was enough interest and reason to go ahead with creating a Neighbourhood Plan for Shimpling.

Based on what villagers said at this initial meeting, the Project Group’s draft vision statement for what our Neighbourhood Plan should achieve is:

                     To protect and enhance the unique character of Shimpling as a discrete small village, notable

                                    for its rural location, its significant past and its strong sense of community.

 

On the 6th October 2023:  Babergh District Council (BDC) issued an Area Designation Notice for Shimpling, which can be seen by following this Area Designation Notice link.  Also, BDC set up a webpage for the Shimpling NP, which can be accessed through here.

On the 15th January 2024:  The inaugural meeting of the Neighbourhood Plan Group took place.  This was lead by Ian Poole from Places4People Planning Consultancy Ltd who set out his role and the assistance he will provide to the Committee in producing the document.   Lucy Batchelor-Wylam a Chartered Landscape Architect also explained her part in helping with the Plan.  Ian took the Committee through the process and what would be required/next steps.

On the 25th January 2024:  A Building Design Criteria consultation took place with the Committee meeting with two Design Consultants from Aecom; explaining what was special and worked well with the village and showing the consultants around to give them a feel of the village.

In June 2024:  Initial Draft of the Landscape Appraisal is delivered for review by the Neighbourhood Plan team.

On the 25th July 2024:  Final Building Design Criteria report issued.

In September 2024:  A survey was delivered to 187 households and 106 responses were received. The survey had aklso been available online.

On the 1st February 2025:  Feedback event in the village hall report on the results of the survey.  Attended by 61 people.

 

 

Further updates will be added as the work progresses.