Government Office gives Cattle Market decision the green light

Confirmation that St Edmundsbury can issue the planning permission for the Cattle Market redevelopment scheme in Bury St Edmunds has been received by the council.

GO East (Government Office for the eastern region, acting for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - ODPM)  has been considering whether to call in the decision made by St Edmundsbury's Development Control Committee on 21 February to resolve to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the former Cattle Market site. If the decision had been called in a public inquiry would have then been held.

The notification from GO East means that planning permission can be issued once the legal agreement that is to accompany the permission has been signed - this is the agreement between the developers, Centros Miller, and St Edmundsbury about issues such as funding for extra buses, affordable housing and Variable Message Signing.

Development Control Committee Chairman, Cllr Margaret Warwick, said:

"This is a significant step along the way for the Cattle Market redevelopment. Throughout the planning process we have taken into account the views of our local people and many interested parties. This decision by the Government Office shows that they are satisfied that the local planning authority has also diligently taken into account all the relevant planning policies."

Further planning details are still to be considered by the Development Control Committee and a report will be going to its May meeting setting out the next steps.

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Car Parking Working Party

At its meeting yesterday the working party discussed what should be covered by the traffic study put forward by the Development Control Committee in February. That committee said that a further study of traffic flows and car parking should be carried out by an independent consultant and its results reported to the Car Parking Working Party.

The study will cover gathering traffic and car parking data and then analysing it. The analysis will look at issues such as the level of peak time congestion and queuing, the effect of changing car parking management both now and in the future, balance of short and long stay parking, implications of park and ride, likely changes in traffic flows, and promotion of sustainable travel. One of the suggestions from the working party, for example, was that free bus travel could be offered on market days to encourage more people to use buses.

The consultants are likely to be chosen from a list held by Suffolk County Council which should ensure standards of work and track record are satisfactory. It will also be a firm which has not been involved in the Cattle Market project so far, to maintain independence.

The working party also looked at providing three spaces for disabled drivers in Abbeygate Street opposite the Corn Exchange, for up to three hours, following concerns from local disability groups about losing designated spaces close to the town centre due to the Cattle Market redevelopment.

And, following consultation, it was agreed the experimental closure of Abbeygate Street on Sundays should be permanent.

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Newsletter: This newsletter is from St Edmundsbury Borough Council, owner of the Cattle Market redevelopment site. Please forward it to anyone you think may be interested in the topic or contact me if you wish to be taken off the distribution list:

marianne.hulland@stedsbc.gov.uk