Brantham Regeneration Area, Suffolk
Client: St Francis Group
LPA: Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council
The proposal involves the regeneration of an existing industrial estate and development of adjoining land for mixed use development to include approximately 320 dwellings, 5.4ha of employment land and 0.14ha of retail uses, as well as provision of public open space.
The site is allocated as a major regeneration area in the Babergh Core Strategy 2011-2031, as well as in the previous Local Plan adopted in 2006. The application seeking full planning permission for drainage and access, and outline planning permission for the commercial and residential development was submitted in March 2015.
The proposals form EIA development as it exceeds the thresholds set out within Schedule 2 of the EIA Regulations comprising an infrastructure project of more than 0.5 hectares.
A Scoping Report was submitted to the Local Authority setting out the technical matters to be addressed within the Environmental Statement and the methodologies to be employed throughout the assessment. These matters were agreed with the Local Authority and an Environmental Statement (ES) duly prepared.
Boyer co-ordinated the production of the ES and prepared the introductory chapters, policy context as well as the technical socio-economic assessment chapter and Non-technical Summary. Due to potential impacts on traffic and the effect on the nearly railway crossing, the commercial floorspace proposed was reduced and therefore an Addendum to the ES was prepared to re-assess the residual effects. Both the ES and addendum were subject to a peer review and considered acceptable.
Planning permission was achieved for the site in November 2016, with Boyer gaining permission for the reserved matters for the residential element in June 2019 as well as a train maintenance depot on the commercial land in June 2017.
