Coastal housing bid branded a nonsense

CONSERVATIONISTS today claimed it would be “hugely inappropriate” if the twin Trimley villages and Felixstowe were engulfed with housing.

Suffolk Preservation Society says the unique character of the villages will be lost forever and the edge of the resort spoiled, and has urged Suffolk Coastal council to look again at the plans.

Director Richard Ward said: “Although a lot of the policies raised in the council's Local Development Framework are welcomed and appropriate, we feel very strongly that the housing targets set for the area are far too large.

“As a result, the council is now looking to build in areas which simply are not suitable to accommodate huge numbers of new homes.

“The Trimley villages are extremely small with little, if any, significant facilities and simply do not have the capacity, either physically or socially, to accommodate these large numbers of new homes.

“While modest development designed to meet the needs of the local community may be appropriate in the future, identifying these villages as a strategic growth area really is a nonsense.

“The result of this building work would be the gradual erosion of the countryside and expansion of the villages, so much so that we fear they may eventually combine and lose their separate identities altogether.”

The society applauded the council's commitment to securing “organic and evolutionary growth” and preserving prime agricultural land for food production outlined in its LDF.

However, Mr Ward said these pledges were worthless unless the housing plans took more account of the need to protect the district's special environment.

Suffolk Coastal is currently analysing the results of recent consultation before deciding on its preferred options - there will then be more consultation followed by a public inquiry.

Should Trimley's fields be used for new homes? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk