Planning and Development Management

Babergh District Council is the planning authority and all planning applications affecting Kersey are decided by Babergh.

As a statutory consultee, Kersey Parish Council is consulted by Babergh about all development in the Parish. The Parish Council discusses all planning applications at Council meetings and then gives its comments to the District Council.

Applicants and anyone interested or affected by proposals are encouraged to attend Parish Council meetings where an opportunity is always given to applicants and members of the public present to comment on planning applications. 

The Parish Council particularly appreciates applicants fully engaging with the planning process and attending the Parish Council meeting when their application will be discussed.  This ensures that Councillors questions about an application can be answered before the Council makes its recommendations to Babergh who are the planning authority.

View a guide for public participation at Kersey Parish Council meetings.

Planning can be an emotive subject and the Parish Council has a responsibility to represent the whole community when it makes comments to the District Council about applications.  The Parish Council will consider every planning application on its individual merits. 

Councillors will consider relevant material planning considerations such as:

• Design, appearance and materials;
• Visual impact and layout;
• Effects on amenity, loss of light, overshadowing, loss of privacy, noise or smell nuisance;
• Listed buildings and heritage matters;
• Impact on trees and wildlife;
• Highway safety, traffic and parking;
• Flood risk;
• Cumulative impact;
• Previous decisions of the Council or Planning Authorities on the same site or similar;
• Planning policy - Babergh Local Plan and National Planning Policy

Certain things are not material planning considerations and cannot be taken into account such as:

• Effect on property values;
• Loss of view;
• Noise and disruption during construction;
• Future use;
• The applicant, personal factors and land ownership;
• Covenants or other private property rights;
• Motivation behind an application;
• Change from a previous scheme;
• Matters covered by other legislation

Babergh District Council posts all planning applications on their website, where interested parties can view documents and plans.
Click on the link below to view planning applications.
https://planning.baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk/online-applications/
Type ‘Kersey’ in the search box to find applications in the Parish.

Listed Buildings and the Kersey Conservation Area

The main central residential village area of Kersey is a Conservation Area.
There are many listed buildings all around the parish. Our Conservation Area and heritage buildings are important assets helping to make Kersey a beautiful place in which to live, work and visit.

Babergh District Council has a specific heritage webpage which can be accessed via their main planning webpage, click the link below, then select the Heritage tab.  The Heritage webpage provides guidance to owners of historic buildings and properties within Conservation Areas.

If you live in a listed building or in the Conservation Area you may need listed building consent for repairs or changes to your property. 

Tree work in the Conservation Area

Works to trees in the Conservation Area also require planning consent.  Before carrying out any work please check the Babergh website where there is plenty of information and guidance published.  The Tree Officer at Babergh has confirmed that regulations do not apply to cutting hedges or work on small trees with a diameter of less than 7.5cm at 1.5m from the ground.

Below is a link to the Babergh District Council Planning webpage which has information about the planning process, planning applications, planning policy, heritage and more.

http://www.babergh.gov.uk/planning/