East Suffolk Council

East Suffolk Developers Charter

East Suffolk Council are proud to announce the launch of the East Suffolk Developers Charter.

The Developers Charter sets out the council’s high-level aspirations for residential development schemes in the district to go ‘above and beyond’. These aspirations relate to:  

• developers’ engagement with stakeholders during the whole development process, 
• the design quality of schemes, both in terms of appearance, function and sustainability, and 
• the quality of the delivery process for supporting community wellbeing and environmental quality.  

The charter is structured using the following five ‘theme areas’: 

• Participation and Engagement 
• Landscape and Biodiversity 
• Homes 
• Sustainable Design, and 
• Considerate Construction and Community Ownership. 

Whilst the charter is aimed primarily at major residential developments (10 dwellings or more), we would very much like to see the principles applied to smaller developments or other types of development, where applicable. 

The Developers Charter provides a framework for the council to support and publicly recognise exceptional developments and engagement strategies that have achieved high standards – both at the planning permission stage (stakeholder engagement) and post-delivery stage (scheme quality and construction processes) of development. Further details on assessment and recognition will be published in due course. 

It should be noted that engagement with the Developers Charter is entirely voluntary for developers; the Developers Charter is not planning policy or guidance, and is not a material consideration in the determination of planning applications.  

The East Suffolk Developers Charter Assessment and Recognition Framework sets out the details including the eligibility requirements, assessment, and awards. The Charter itself is not meant to be rigid but rather indicative – meaning that schemes which have delivered high quality development or engagement/participation activities, but have done so in different ways than the Charter has set out, will still be recognised if they are considered to be consistent with the Charter’s overall aims and principles.

Nominations for the Developers Charter will open in April with site visits and assessment of applications in later summer and recognition in the autumn.