Row brewing between councils over Melton Hill 'cheese wedge' site

Woodbridge Town Council blasted East Suffolk Council for allegedly not meeting with Sue Bale, mayor of Woodbridge, to discuss plans for the 'cheese wedges' site.

But East Suffolk Council bosses said there was no need for the two councils to meet at the point in the process.

A spokesman said: "While good relations and regular dialogue with the town council on a range of issues are always important, our role in this matter is merely as the Planning Authority.

“However, we are sure that the developer for this scheme will wish to engage with the local community and the town council regarding their plans and, once they are appointed, we will be very happy to make these introductions to encourage constructive dialogue.”

The dispute relates to the site formally known as King's View but known locally as the 'cheese wedges' because of the shape of the homes that were planned, but never built on the site.

The site has been up for sale since this summer, and has since received interest from several parties.

A statement posted to East Suffolk Council's Facebook page on July 30 said that East Suffolk Council "would like to see any potential developer coming forward forging a close working relationship with the local community and Woodbridge Town Council".

Now, town council bosses allege they have been frozen out of the process.

A statement from Woodbridge Town Council says: "On October 20 and again on October 27 Sue Bale, Mayor of Woodbridge, wrote to East Suffolk, asking for a meeting to understand the mechanism by which East Suffolk would require any new developer to engage with the community and with the Town Council.

"Both requests for East Suffolk to meet with the Town Council have been refused.

"In its replies, East Suffolk has watered down its previous publicly-stated position for developers to ‘forge a close working relationship’ to ‘a strong recommendation that developers have preapplication discussions with the local community'."