Development Control Committee members will be told at their next meeting they do not need to review their decision on the Cattle Market development in Bury St Edmunds town centre following consultation with the Highways Agency.
The committee decided on 21 February to recommend approval for the development and that decision was later confirmed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). A report to the committee, which will meet on Thursday 2 June, says St Edmundsbury, as Local Planning Authority, Suffolk County Council, as Highway Authority, and technical advisers were satisfied that the impact of the scheme was not large enough to need formal consultation with the Highways Agency (nationally responsible for major roads between urban areas).
The council has since rechecked its position and also carried out a formal consultation with the Highways Agency, who employed their own consultants to look at the traffic impact of the Cattle Market scheme. Development Control Committee members will be told that the Highways Agency is satisfied there would be no major impact on the A14 and that the council was correct in its original assessment that there was no need to formally consult it.
St Edmundsbury's Corporate Director for Economy and Environment, Jerry Massey, said:
"This decision by the Highways Agency is welcomed, as was the decision by the ODPM, as it demonstrates that the council, as the local planning authority, has been consistently following the correct procedures."
ENDS
ISSUED BY MARIANNE HULLAND, COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, ST EDMUNDSBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL. Tel 01284 757034. marianne.hulland@stedsbc.gov.uk
