VILLAGERS fear every field in their community is now up for grabs again as experts try to identify sites for 1,700-plus new homes.
VILLAGERS fear every field in their community is now up for grabs again as experts try to identify sites for 1,700-plus new homes.
Planners' decision not to build a large new estate in the countryside on the edge of Felixstowe and a smaller one in Walton have left communities all over the peninsula worried for the future.
Trimley St Mary parish councillor Mary Dixon said: “The threat now hangs over us all - all the previous sites put forward as possible for homes and others will now have to be looked at.”
Parish and district councillor Richard Kerry said: “I have taken a hard look and for the life of me I cannot find where you can put the amount of housing which is needed or any vast quantity of homes.
“The decision not to have a large development means the previous sites in the villages will have to be looked at again, which is most unfortunate because that is what I was trying to stop.
“They may still look at the site on the edge of Felixstowe but now they will be looking at paddocks and golf ranges instead of agricultural land. I think they have shot themselves in the foot.
“Even though the recession means there is likely to be little building at all in the next few years Suffolk Coastal still need to show there is land available if it was needed.”
Carl Storer, a parish councillor and also a member of the Save Trimley Against Growth action group, said the Suffolk Coastal task group's decision had created a “muddying of the waters”.
“It is going to be a lot more difficult now. I still don't support the need for the huge number of new homes they are talking about,” he said.
“However, there are an awful lot of greenfield sites which look like brownfield sites and there are some in the village and we should build on these first before we take any fields, although these will probably only cover a year's worth of development.”
Suffolk Coastal's cabinet is expected to meet later this month to discuss its next move and authorise officers to start the next phase of looking at potential sites for the homes.
Where should the 1,700 new homes be built? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk
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