In 2004 a Supplementary Planning Statement was produced for
the Woodbridge Riverside area which covers Whisstocks Boatyard,
Quayside Mill and the former refrigeration, and gasworks sites.
It was originally prepared as Supplementary Planning Guidance
(SPG) and went through a consultation process appropriate for
that type of document. It could not be adopted before the enactment
of the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 which took
effect in September 2004.
The new Act replaced SPGs with Supplementary Planning Documents
(SPDs) but it was not possible to convert the SPG to a SPD
without significant reworking and a different consultation
process.
The Council therefore decided to adopt this document as a
Supplementary Planning Statement (SPS), which has no formal status
under the new legislation, but because it has been through a formal
consultation process, will still be a material consideration in the
development control process and at planning appeal.
The SPS will assist those promoting development within the area
covered by the brief and gives local people a clearer understanding
of what the Council will take into account when determining
planning applications within the area.
It draws upon a characterisation study of the whole Woodbridge
riverfront by Michael Munt, a planning, building conservation
and urban design consultant, who was commissioned by the
Council to prepare an independent assessment of the area, in
order to promote a better understanding of its character.
The draft of the document was subject to public consultation
between July and August 2004. The Council’s Development Control
Committee endorsed the document at its meeting on 16 September
2004 and Cabinet adopted it on 7 December 2004.
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Woodbridge Riverside Characterisation Study
This study was commissioned by the Council in July
2003. It came at a time when there was increased pressure for
change in this special area, and followed the dismissal of an
appeal, in January 2003, against the refusal of planning permission
to redevelop the former Whisstock’s Boat Yard for riverside
housing. The document was published as a background document to the
production of the Woodbridge Riverside Planning Brief.