Suffolk council area

Selling Land in Babergh

Checked on 30 September 2026

Babergh is the south Suffolk district between the Stour and the Orwell, with two market towns, Sudbury and Hadleigh, and a stretch of the Ipswich edge around Sproughton and Pinewood. It builds far more homes than its plan asks for, yet the council's own figure puts its land supply below five years once the 20% buffer that has applied to decisions since July 2026 is counted. The joint plan with Mid Suffolk allocated no sites, so a new plan running to 2045 is where larger fields will be decided.

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In short

We buy land in Babergh and welcome land of every kind there: fields and paddocks, inherited land, old yards and larger holdings.

Babergh can show 4.68 years of housing land, short of the five years national policy expects. That shortfall is evidence of need which decisions must weigh, so a well placed field next to a town or village can make a case outside the local plan. It is not a guarantee. Land in the Green Belt faces stricter national tests. Its local plan dates from November 2023.

We look for 2 acres or more next to, or well related to, a town or village, with a road frontage or a way to get one.

The next step is a free, confidential desktop review. We tell you which route, if any, suits your land, with no obligation.

Babergh in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
147%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
4.68 years
Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Position at 1 April 2025, measured against the Joint Local Plan Part 1 requirement of 416 homes a year, plus a 20% buffer under paragraph 78(c) of the framework because that requirement is less than 80% of local housing need. Stated by Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils, in the updated position for 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030 (the January 2026 statement, with a 5% buffer, gave 5.34 years).
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
1,809
of 1,232 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
November 2023
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
Latest step
Joint Local Plan Part 1 adopted November 2023; the councils decided in February 2025 on a full joint plan review rather than a Part 2 plan; call for sites held 20 October 2025 to 9 January 2026 and scoping consultation 5 June to 31 July 2026; the timetable of June 2026 (reviewed 5 August 2026 without change) sets Gateway 1 for 1 October 2026, consultation on content and evidence for 1 January to 1 February 2027 and adoption for 1 April 2029
Checked source

See how Babergh compares with the other 166 councils we cover

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

The Land We Look for in Babergh

Fields of 2 acres or more on the edges of Sudbury, Great Cornard and Hadleigh, outside the National Landscapes.
Land on the Ipswich fringe around Sproughton, Pinewood and Copdock and Washbrook.
Paddocks and small fields beside villages such as Capel St Mary, East Bergholt, Long Melford and Holbrook.
Former yards, depots and redundant commercial buildings anywhere in the district.
Larger holdings near the A12 and A14 that could help meet the 1,191 homes the 2023 plan left for later allocation.

Land in the Dedham Vale or beside the estuaries is not ruled out, but the bar is higher and we will say so. Where we take a site on, the planning work is ours to fund, under an option whose price is fixed on day one and set above what the land is worth in its present use. You carry on using it until completion; should permission fail, the land stays yours and nothing is owed. Each stage is on our how it works page.

The planning detail in full

Two Towns, the Ipswich Edge and the Stour Valley

Babergh District Council covers the southern corner of Suffolk, from the Stour, which marks almost all of its southern boundary, with Essex, to the Orwell, which separates it from East Suffolk. It had 92,300 people at the 2021 census and has "just two towns, Sudbury and Hadleigh", with well-preserved villages such as Long Melford, Lavenham and Kersey. The joint plan names Pinewood, part of the built-up area of Ipswich, with Sudbury and Hadleigh as Babergh's three population centres, and notes that the district has no main line railway station.

Delivery far above target. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 counted 1,809 homes built against 1,232 required, a result of 147%.
Mostly greenfield, mostly unplanned. The councils' monitoring report for 2024 to 2025 records 577 net new homes in Babergh that year: 83% on greenfield land and 372, or 64%, on windfall sites the plan never allocated.
Permissions gathered in a few parishes. At March 2025 the district had 3,431 homes with permission not yet built. Sproughton alone held 1,037, about three in ten, well ahead of Sudbury, Hadleigh, Shotley and Brantham.
Two National Landscapes. The Dedham Vale and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths, with the Stour valley, cover what the joint plan calls "a considerable part of the District".

Ahead on Building, Short of Land Once the Buffer Rose to 20%

The council's supply statement of January 2026, with a base date of 1 April 2025, found 5.34 years to 31 March 2030, with a 5% buffer based on a 164% result in the 2023 delivery test. From 1 July 2026, paragraph 78(c) of the December 2024 framework, which the council cites, adds a 20% buffer for decisions where a requirement adopted within the past five years, and examined under an older framework, is 80% or less of the standard method figure. The councils' supply page, updating the same 2025 position, says they "have had to apply a 20% buffer" rather than the 5% previously applied, and gives Babergh 4.68 years.

Sources: the January 2026 statement, tables 6.1 to 6.3, and the councils' supply page; 2,496 is 2,080 plus 20%, our arithmetic.
Part of the calculation	January 2026 statement	Council's updated position
Yearly requirement	416 homes, from the joint plan	416 homes
Five years, before any buffer	2,080 homes	2,080 homes
Past shortfall	None	None
Buffer	5%	20%
Five-year requirement	2,184 homes	2,496 homes
Deliverable supply	2,334 homes	2,334 homes
Result	5.34 years	4.68 years

Only the requirement moved: moving from a 5% to a 20% buffer adds 312 homes to the requirement, which on our arithmetic leaves the district 162 short. Both figures are the council's, for the same period and the same sites; the lower one is its current position, the one an application made now is weighed against.

Why 416 a Year Now Counts Against Babergh

The statement puts need by the standard method at 779 homes a year; the plan's 416 is about 53% of that. Adopted in November 2023, the plan is under five years old and was examined under a framework older than December 2024, so every condition holds. The shortfall comes from the yardstick, not slow building: over 2018/19 to 2024/25 the monitoring report counts 3,837 net completions against 2,912 at 416 a year, 925 ahead.

What a Small Shortfall Means for a Field

With no Green Belt in the district, as our Suffolk page explains, policy S5 of the August 2026 framework can reach any settlement edge in Babergh. A supply below five years is evidence of unmet need, weighed against everything else about the site rather than an automatic finding, and with delivery at 147% the stronger rule for results under 75% does not apply. Annex A's protection for plans adopted in the last five years needs a five-year supply as well as a result above 75%, so it does not hold while the council's figure sits below five years.

A Plan That Allocated No Sites and Left 1,191 Homes for Later

The Joint Local Plan Part 1 sets Babergh at least 416 homes a year from 2018 to 2037 and made no allocations, relying on permissions already granted. Its Table 3 shows what that left:

Source: Babergh and Mid Suffolk Joint Local Plan Part 1 (November 2023), Table 3.
Babergh, 2018 to 2037	Homes
Requirement over the plan period	7,904
Completed 2018 to 2021	1,274
Committed in 2021: permissions, resolutions to grant, neighbourhood plan allocations	4,939
Windfall allowance	500
Total identified, 85% of the requirement	6,713
Left to be addressed in a Part 2 plan	1,191

That Part 2 never came. The monitoring report records that after the December 2024 framework the councils are "proceeding with a full Joint Local Plan review and not a Part 2 Plan", so the 1,191 homes fall to a new plan starting from a far higher need figure. The plan's own trajectory shows where the gap falls: it expected 2,537 Babergh homes over the eleven years from 2026/27, about 230 a year on our arithmetic, against a requirement of 416. Until a new plan is adopted, the settlement boundaries the 2023 plan carried forward unreviewed hold most open land back, and the countryside policies the two councils share are set out on our Mid Suffolk page. Two of them matter most here:

Policy LP01, infill. Outside a boundary, windfall infill "will be acceptable" where at least 10 well related dwellings form a cluster, usually for one or two homes, and its landscape test names the AONB.
Policy LP07, community-led and rural exception housing. An exception site must connect well to an existing settlement and be "proportionate in size to it", normally no larger than one hectare or 5% of the settlement's existing homes.

Sudbury, Hadleigh and the Sproughton Edge of Ipswich

Sudbury, Great Cornard and Chilton Woods

Sudbury had 484 homes with permission waiting to be built at March 2025, and its neighbour Great Cornard 48. The town's strategic allocation is Chilton Woods: the monitoring report records 200 homes approved on its phase north of Woodhall Business Park, 44 of them completed in 2024/25.

Downstream lies the Dedham Vale National Landscape, whose partnership in late 2013 asked Natural England to extend it westwards towards Sudbury; its page records no decision since and says "the process will take many years to complete". The partnership's planning guidance says parts of the adjoining Stour Valley Project Area, without the same statutory protection, are "considered a Valued Landscape". The joint plan draws that project area beyond Sudbury into West Suffolk, with a second over the Shotley Peninsula for the Suffolk Coast and Heaths, and policy LP18 says development in either "should have regard to the relevant Valued Landscape Assessment".

Hadleigh

Hadleigh had 313 homes with permission outstanding at March 2025; one scheme of 273 off Tower Mill Lane saw 31 completed in 2024/25. Its neighbourhood plan was made on 27 February 2025.

The Ipswich Fringe at Sproughton

Sproughton takes in part of the built-up edge of Ipswich. At Wolsey Grange, on land north of the A1071, the planning committee voted on 25 January 2023 to delegate the grant of outline permission for up to 750 homes. The officers' report for that item said "the built-up areas on the edge of Ipswich in the parish of Sproughton cannot logically be considered as being in the countryside", placing the site in the Ipswich Fringe east of the A14, with Sproughton village across the road a Hinterland Village under the 2014 Core Strategy. The joint plan adopted in November 2023 replaced those Core Strategy settlement policies without setting a new hierarchy. It supports the continuing regeneration of the former Sproughton sugar beet factory, a strategic employment site of 35.5 hectares.

The Dedham Vale, the Two Estuaries and the RAMS Charge

The Dedham Vale became a National Landscape in name in November 2023, though "the legal designation remains the same", its partnership notes. Inside it and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths, policy LP18 says major development "will be refused other than in exceptional circumstances", and only where it is shown to be in the public interest. The monitoring report counts only 10 homes permitted in 2024/25 wholly or partly within the two.

The Stour and Orwell Estuaries, which border the district, are a Special Protection Area and Ramsar site. For other development in their mitigation zone, the joint plan applies a 13 kilometre impact risk zone that "will trigger consultation with Natural England" site by site, and it says development at Brantham, on the Stour estuary, must be sensitive to its "estuarine/coastal location".

Every new home pays the tariff. The whole of Babergh is in Zone A of the Suffolk Coast RAMS, at £150.27 a home from 6 April 2026, revised each April.
Schemes of more than 50 homes design in green space. Policy SP09 requires well-designed open space in proportion to their size, and where a site has more than 50 homes and sits somewhere more sensitive, the RAMS asks for a bespoke approach, with mitigation on or off site as well as the tariff.
Valley and estuary land needs a flood check. Policy LP27 asks development at medium or high flood risk to pass the sequential test, and the exception test where needed, with a site flood risk assessment, and the plan notes a small section of estuary on the Shotley Peninsula threatened by coastal erosion. We map both first, at our cost.

Routes for Land in a District That Builds Well

With delivery strong and the shortfall small, the new plan is the main route for large holdings, alongside these:

Inside settlement boundaries, policy S4. Plots, backland and yards in Sudbury, Hadleigh, Great Cornard and the villages are approved unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.
On a settlement edge, policy S5. A field well related to a town or larger village, and served by roads, drainage and schools, can make its case now.
Small sites and rural exception schemes under LP01 and LP07, where our paddocks and small sites page shows what we look for.
The call for sites. It ran from 20 October 2025 to 9 January 2026, generally for housing sites of at least five homes or more than 0.25 hectares.

It is still worth talking to us, because plan sites are chosen on evidence prepared years ahead, and we pay for it. Our guide to calls for sites explains each step.

Gateway 1, a 2026 Supply Statement and a Plan That Turns Five

The Housing Delivery Test 2025, published on 17 August 2026, covered April 2022 to March 2025. At 147% none of the test's consequences applies, since an action plan starts below 95%; Babergh's buffer comes from the plan rule instead.

The Next Supply Statement

In September 2026 the councils' supply page said the 2026 to 2031 position would be published "in the autumn". Its base date is 1 April 2026 and, while the plan is under five years old, it still starts from 416 a year.

The joint plan turns five in November 2028, months before the timetable's adoption date for its successor. From then national policy measures supply against the standard method figure, 779 a year in the January 2026 statement, rather than 416.

The New Plan, Stage by Stage

The councils' Local Plan Timetable of June 2026 runs the new plan from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2045, replacing the 2023 plan and the saved Babergh policies of 2006 and 2014. It set the Gateway 1 self-assessment summary for 1 October 2026, consultation on the plan's content and evidence for January 2027, consultation on the proposed plan for February 2028, submission for 1 September 2028 and adoption for 1 April 2029.

Reorganisation Withdrawn

A March 2026 decision to replace Suffolk's councils with three unitaries was withdrawn on 7 September 2026, the council's reorganisation page records, and district elections in May 2027 will use existing boundaries, so Babergh still decides applications. Land on a settlement edge can be reviewed now under S5; larger holdings are best prepared for the January 2027 consultation.

Questions About Land in Babergh

Babergh builds more homes than its plan asks for. How can it be short of land?

Because the yardstick changed. Since July 2026 a plan figure of 416 a year, about half the standard method figure of 779 in the January 2026 statement, carries a 20% buffer in decisions. The same deliverable homes that gave 5.34 years with a 5% buffer now give 4.68 years, the council's own figure.

My field is near Sproughton, on the village side of the A14. Is it treated as part of Ipswich?

Probably not. In 2023 the council's officers treated the built-up edge of Ipswich east of the A14 as part of the town, but Sproughton village, across the road, was a Hinterland Village. A field beside the village usually sits outside a settlement boundary and is judged as edge-of-village land under policy S5.

We farm in the Stour valley near Sudbury. Does the Dedham Vale designation cover us?

Not necessarily. The National Landscape covers part of the valley downstream, its partnership's request of 2013 to extend it towards Sudbury has no recorded decision, and in the Stour Valley Project Area beside it policy LP18 asks development to have regard to its valued landscape assessment.

Hadleigh now has a neighbourhood plan. Does that rule out new homes on the edge of town?

No. It is part of the development plan, and a scheme that accords with it is one of the routes the joint plan allows outside a settlement boundary, with the supply shortfall weighed under S5.

We missed the call for sites that closed in January 2026. Is it too late for the new plan?

No. The councils' timetable of June 2026 sets consultations for 1 January 2027 and 1 February 2028, and evidence prepared now can be put to the councils at those stages. Edge-of-settlement land can also be looked at for an application now.

What price will you pay for my land?

We agree a fixed price with you at the start, before any planning work begins, and it is set above what your land is worth today. We cannot name a figure before we have looked at your land, because it depends on the site itself: its size, its access, how many homes it could take and the costs that come off land value, such as affordable housing, road works and drainage. After the free desktop review we can talk about a price, and once agreed it is written into the agreement.

When would I be paid?

You receive the agreed price on completion, once planning permission has been secured. The agreement sets out the milestones along the way, and it continues while any planning application or appeal is being decided. Until completion you carry on using your land as you do now, and we pay for all of the planning. If permission is not granted, you keep your land and owe nothing.

Tell Us About Your Land in Babergh

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We reply within 2 working days, by phone or email, whichever you prefer.
The desktop review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
If we agree terms, we pay for all of the planning, which on a larger site can reach £300,000.

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.