A revised application has now been received by Babergh for two warehouses, with office accommodation, to be built for the local company, Prolog, on a site off Churchfield Road in Chilton. The last application for this site was dropped when it was challenged by a judicial review so everyone is being careful to make sure that all necessary procedures are strictly adhered to. The current application differs in a number of respects from the previous plans and those who took an interest in the matter last time seem to be of the opinion that what is proposed is an improvement on the previous project. A number of question marks remain however.
I am not in a position to say a great deal about the merits or demerits of the application at present, although it is fair to say that the proposals are fairly extensive and the development will have a marked impact on the surrounding area. I have looked at the plans with Peter Clifford, the Chairman of Chilton Parish Council, and we will be meeting Nick Ward, the Head of Development Control at Babergh to discuss various aspects of the scheme in September.
Among other things we will be looking to see what, if any, community gain there can be from the development, which will be almost adjacent to the new Chilton Woods area. We hope that we can encourage some joined up thinking when it comes to pedestrian and cycle routes connecting the two sites and also that some thought can be given to conserving biodiversity in the area.
The planning application is to be discussed by Chilton Parish Council on Tuesday night. They will give their views which will be communicated to Babergh’s Development Committee who will decide the case. If you want to know more why not come along to the meeting at the Christopher Centre in Sudbury at 7.30 pm. I suspect that Babergh will consider the application at its meeting in November.
