Newmarket councillors welcome 415 homes plan included in blueprint for town

Newmarket councillors have welcomed the latest blueprint for the town’s development over the next 20 years, which has given the green light for around 415 new homes on the Jockey Club’s Pinewood Stud site in Hamilton Road.

The homes’ plan, coupled with a 75-acre country park, was the subject of a public exhibition at the memorial hall last year and the results of the four-week consultation which followed saw 76 per cent of respondents supporting the idea which led The Jockey Club to submit its proposal for consideration in the West Suffolk Council Local Plan.

Its inclusion is at the expense of the expansion of the Hatchfield Farm development in Fordham Road where 400 new homes are currently under development.

“This is a great plan for Newmarket. Pinewood and associated country park is a site that will serve the residents of Newmarket who choose to live and work in the town,” said Cllr Andy Drummond.

“Expansion of Hatchfield has not been selected. We don’t want Newmarket to serve as a commuter dormitory for Cambridge which would do nothing but disrupt the horse racing industry the lifeblood of the town.

“Both Cllr Rachel Hood and myself were members of the local plan working group, a cross party group of Conservatives, Independent, and Labour, members who have worked tirelessly together to deliver this plan.

“Had the previous Conservative administration retained control of West Suffolk Council in the recent May elections we would be looking at an entirely different plan that probably wouldn’t have been so good for Newmarket so I would like to say thank you to independent and Labour colleagues and specifically Cllr Andy Neal and Cllr Kevin Yarrow, without their help, the future growth of Newmarket would have taken a turn for the worse”.

The West Suffolk Local Plan will allocate new sites for 5,343 new homes alongside 9,245 that already have planning permission. The total number it needs to deliver over the plan period is 13,702.

Members of the council’s cabinet will meet on Tuesday to discuss the draft and are likely to recommend council members approve it going out to consultation, early next year, when they meet on December 19.

It will then be submitted to the Secretary of State and a government appointed inspector will hold an examination in public before the plan comes back to council to adopt.

It allocates new sites for 5,343 new homes alongside 9,245 that already have planning permission. The total number it needs to deliver over the plan period is 13,702 but the local plan deliberately over allocates to allow for the fact that some of these sites will inevitably not come forward.

It also makes provision for 86 hectares for employment growth of which some 24 hectares are new allocations.

“This submissions stage draft builds on the evidence from the first two consultations,” said Cllr Jim Thorndyke, the council’s cabinet member for planning.

“We have also had invaluable input from councillors across the political landscape who have worked through the detail with me in a working group. As a result, I believe that we have strong and robust draft local plan to put forward for consultation.”