Garden village outline plan to be lodged in spring

A full application for phase one of the project will be submitted in the spring, with an outline application for the rest of the site lodged at the same time

An outline planning application for a new garden village in Suffolk with more than 1,300 homes, a school and a retirement complex is due to be lodged in the spring.

It will be submitted at the same time as a full application for the initial phase of the project, which is set to include 100 homes.

The community at Corton, near Lowestoft – the first of its kind in the area – is being planned for about 90 hectares (about 225 acres) of land near the A47.

Suffolk County Council, which owns most of the land and is behind the scheme, said it was "designed using garden city principles with significant amounts of landscaping, tree planting and green infrastructure".

The garden village would cover 91 hectares, with 71 of them currently used for farming but allocated for development

A council spokesperson said: "This planning application will be submitted [in] spring 2025, later than originally expected due to additional work required in relation to the environmental impact assessment.

"An outline planning application is also being prepared for the remainder of the site, which will be ready to [be submitted] around the same time."

The plans are being split into two phases, with the initial one covering 11 hectares (nearly 30 acres) and including 100 homes.

The second phase, covering about 80 hectares (about 200 acres), will be for up to 1,200 homes, with 30% of them classified as affordable.

It would also include a retirement community, up to eight hectares (20 acres) of employment space, a primary school including a pre-school, a community centre and a play area.

The development is described on the North of Lowestoft Garden Village website as being designed "to create a new neighbourhood which is distinct in its own right, and which achieves the highest standards of design and sustainability".

It adds: "The overall aim of the masterplan is to demonstrate how the development will achieve Garden Village principles, whilst being a complementary addition to the area that maintains and protects the identity of Corton and other nearby villages."