IPSWICH: Residents have launched a campaign against proposals to turn the Golden Key pub in Woodbridge Road into a supermarket.

Petition forms have been placed in many of the existing small shops along Woodbridge Road and have already attracted hundreds of signatures.

Meanwhile residents have contacted local councillors after hearing about the proposals – and most of their letters have been hostile to the proposal.

Annie O’Rourke, who lives near the shops in Woodbridge Road, is one of the organisers of the petition.

She said: “There is no need for another supermarket here, whoever runs it. And there is a belief among local people it will not be mainly aimed at those who live right nearby.

“We have a good range of local shops and there are two Co-ops just nearby, one in Woodbridge Road and one just down Cauldwell Hall Road.

“People around here think the shop would be aiming to attract people in their cars and access to that site is terrible from the mini roundabout.”

As revealed in The Evening Star last week Greene King, which owns the Golden Key, has put in a planning application to convert it into a supermarket. No operator has yet been signed up – Tesco has said it knows nothing about the site despite local rumours.

Local borough councillor Alasdair Ross said he had received 42 letters about the proposal: “Only one of those was in favour. There is a lot of opposition from people who see the prospect of a supermarket as a threat to their thriving local centre,” he added.

The planning application is expected to be discussed by Ipswich council’s planning and development committee towards the end of the year.

n Should the Golden Key be converted into a supermarket? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk