East Suffolk Council decision on bid for controversial new 'party venue' delayed

A decision on controversial plans to turn former agricultural buildings into a 'party venue' has been delayed.

Wilderness Reserve Suffolk's bid to turn four former agricultural buildings at Valley Farm, in Laundry Lane, Huntingfield, into an 18-bedroom single guest house was discussed during yesterday afternoon's East Suffolk Council planning committee meeting.

The bid, which was partly retrospective, followed planning approval granted in 2023 to build three holiday let units made up of 17 bedrooms.

The new application, however, received significant local opposition as the company sought to change the use of the proposed new building to include hotel use as well as leisure and recreation for a maximum of 270 people, including weddings and corporate events.

Cllr Edward Watson, vice chairman of Huntingfield Parish Council, said the plans would be 'devastating' and have 'far-reaching' implications in the rural community, including noise and traffic.

The application, which was accompanied by two separate bids to expand the car park and construct a building to house management services, received 109 objections from residents.

Cllr Watson reiterated some of the concerns of residents, such as criticism over the applicant's lack of detail on the completion of a new bridge, approved in January, which would ease traffic through Brick Kiln Lane.

Regardless of its completion, which he described as a 'trojan horse' to get around planning objections, larger vehicles would still continue to 'decimate' the quiet lane as they would be too heavy to go over the bridge.

Matt Bostock, the applicant, said although larger vehicles would still need to use Brick Kiln Lane, the new bridge, which would start 'imminently', would take up to 95 per cent of cars off it.

He committed to working with the local community and the county council's highways department to set up a new access point at the top of Brick Kiln Lane to mitigate against the disruption of heavier vehicles.

Jeannette Redway, who spoke on behalf of Cllr David Blackmore, chairman of Huntingfield PC, warned the impacts should not be underestimated, pointing out the potential increase in the site's use during events.

She said: "This building is totally out of context with its rural surroundings, it's too big — the implication of having a party venue of this size in the centre of our village is immense."

Mr Bostock said although the upper limit of guests was 270, events would rarely reach that threshold, instead getting close to about 90 people.

He said: "This application involves variations to the approved design that seek to ensure the building can be used flexibly for it to remain financially viable for the long term.

"Leisure use is still our predominant use, this is not event after event; it's just having an extra string to our bow to be able to ensure that we are able to look after the business in the long term."

Further concerns were raised by Cllr Julia Ewart, the ward member for the area, who made a scathing speech criticising the company, officers, and the planning process as not transparent or fair.

She said residents had been left 'feeling duped' after the applicant built something different from what had been approved in 2023, with no enforcement action being taken.

In the initial approval, for instance, a condition was included preventing any new structures from being built without planning consent, which she said was openly breached and ignored.

Though Cllr Ewart's speech was not well appreciated by committee members, particularly with regard to her comments on the planning team, councillors still noted the concerns and decided to place a deferral option on the table to allow for a site visit.

Councillors voted to defer all three application with eight votes in favour and one abstention.

Cllr Ashdown, who abstained, said: "I don't think it's going to be out of hand and I'm confident that we have all the facilities in places to actually monitor this to ensure that we get what we gave planning permission for."