GREAT WRATTING PARISH COUNCIL Response to West Suffolk Council Local Plan consultation Great Wratting Parish Council welcomes the fact that West Suffolk Council is inviting community engagement in relation to the Local Plan process and looks forward to working with it in the development of this vision. The Parish Council is pleased that, for the purposes of the Local Plan, Great Wratting is classified as “Countryside”. Great Wratting is a rural village encompassing a conservation area and as such the Parish Council considers planning applications on their individual merits to try to ensure that they do not impact on the local character and are consistent with the aspirations laid out in the Village Plan. The Parish Council would like to draw West Suffolk Council’s attention to its concern regarding traffic, which is a significant issue for Great Wratting. It fears that the very large residential developments now taking shape on the north-west fringes of Haverhill will greatly increase local traffic volumes long before adequate infrastructure is brought up to a level which would cope with it. This will result in the main road through Great Wratting (the B1061) being used as an alternative route by drivers wanting to get from Haverhill to Cambridge, particularly in peak hours. The Parish Council therefore believes that it is imperative that the proposed Haverhill north-west relief road is completed as soon as possible. However, the relief road alone will not be sufficient to encourage more drivers to use the A1307 to go to the Cambridge area until a solution is found to the problem of the bottleneck at Linton. The Parish Council urges West Suffolk Council to work with Suffolk and Cambridgeshire County Councils to get that important route improved. While the bottleneck remains traffic will still use village roads, such as those in Great Wratting, as “rat-runs”. In addition to encouraging car drivers to use main roads, rather than having through traffic on minor roads, better local bus services and a light railway service should also be considered as more sustainable forms of transport which would help to reduce the number of vehicles on roads throughout West Suffolk. The two minor roads which lead into Great Wratting (The Street and Withersfield Road) are already used as alternative routes by people whose journeys start outside the parish and who want to avoid using main roads in the area. This is very much to the detriment of the amenity enjoyed by Great Wratting residents. The Parish Council has registered its interest with Suffolk County Council for both these roads to be given Suffolk Quiet Lane status and is working with Withersfield Parish Council, which has done the same for the continuation of Withersfield Road. Great Wratting Parish Council 21st December 2020 .