The Sutton Neighbourhood Plan Update July 2026
It is nearly three years since The Sutton Parish Council decided that steps should be taken to create a Neighbourhood Plan (“the/our Plan”), so that residents of the parish could have an influence on its development and the preservation of its character and values.
The Sutton Neighbourhood Plan Contents Group (“the Group”) was established as a result, and its members have met regularly, working in accordance with the Terms of Reference agreed by the Parish Council.
A detailed questionnaire was circulated to all residents in the spring of 2024, and the high level of responses provided the Group with a comprehensive data base of views and preferences, which were then reported back to the Parish Council and all residents in June 2024.
It is fair to say that progress on preparing the Plan since than has been slow, due to three principal factors – the application for planning permission to develop a Muslim burial ground on the land adjoining Nene Way, the review by the Peterborough City Council of its Local Plan, which remains ongoing, and recent changes within the Council resulting from the local government elections.
Opposition to the planned burial ground was managed by the Group and involved considerable work from the submission of the application in December 2024 until its withdrawal in January 2026. Had the Applicants not withdrawn their application, the City Council’s Planning Officer had recommended its refusal, drawing heavily on the grounds for objection submitted by the Parish Council and the Group. It remains a possibility that a further application could be made, and the Group has taken steps to ensure that it can respond quickly should this happen.
The City Council’s review of its Local Plan is a matter on which the Group has more limited scope for involvement, but which is critical to the content of our Plan. This is because the Plan can only get approval and adoption if it follows both local and national policies in force at the time. The government have also just completed a consultation on possible revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which could also have a significant impact on the overall policy framework which we must work within. The Group therefore needs to have certainty about both national and Local Plan policies, which at present it does not have.
It is currently expected that the draft Local Plan and the revised NPPF will be published in the autumn of this year, and at that stage we will be better placed to determine exactly what we might be able to achieve through our Neighbourhood Plan. The Group has developed a number of relationships with individuals and departments within the City Council who have been willing to discuss issues relating to our Plan with us, and dialogue is being continued in the hope that it will provide the Group with some early indication of how those matters that are relevant to our Plan are most likely to be determined.
In the meantime, the Group continues with such preparatory work as it can do, largely in the collation and preservation of the documentary evidence that will be important in support of the eventual submission of our Plan for approval. Should anyone want more detail of this, or have any questions about the Plan, they should feel free contact any of the members of the Group.