Controversial plans to build more than 2,000 homes on land near Adastral Park in Martlesham are set to receive the support of Ipswich Borough Council as long as concerns over transport and road networks are tackled.
The outline plans for the multi-million pound scheme will be discussed by the council’s planning committee, which is acting as a consultee on the project, on Wednesday.
The proposals include the building of up to 2,000 new homes on a 113 hectare site to the south east of BT’s research and development campus including affordable, starter, family and elderly accommodation.
It will also include the building of primary and secondary ‘local centres’ which will include a range of small shops, an ‘all-through’ school comprising of early years, primary and secondary education, outdoor play areas, allotments and a sports ground. The project will include a vehicle access onto the A12, Ipswich Road and Gloster Road.
However, there are fears that a development of that size could put a strain on public services and the road and transport network in and around Ipswich.
Although the borough council has been advised to back the plans, it will ask Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) to take another look at footpath and cycle provision, the impact on existing traffic flow on Foxhall Road and how to safeguard existing community infrastructure in Ipswich. It also says the future needs of the area’s aging population need to be factored into the housing mix and that there should be a limit put on the size of retail units in the ‘local centres’ so that they are ‘of a scale appropriate to serve the size of the residential development’.
But the committee report broadly backs the plans, saying: “There is no objection to the principle of the proposed development subject to the matters raised in the recommendations being satisfactorily addressed.”
In 2015 the Supreme Court threw out a legal challenge against the development from No Adastral New Town (NANT) who argued Suffolk Coastal had failed in its legal obligations when it approved its Core Strategy and that its process in choosing the Adastral Park site was flawed.
Suffolk Coastal’s Planning Committee are taking another look at the plans tomorrow morning before a site visit in the afternoon.
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