Proposals to build a new retail park next to Morrisons on Sproughton Road in Ipswich look set to be approved by council planners next week.

The borough's planning and development committee will be recommended to approve an application by the East of England Co-op to redevelop the site of the former Dairy Crest plant on Boss Hall industrial estate.

The application, first unveiled last year, would see the site redeveloped with shops, restaurants and a gym - as well as business units for new or growing companies.

There would be nine business units on one side of the site and a gym and four units to be used as a mixture of shops, cafes and restaurants beside Sproughton Road itself.

The existing distribution centre on the site would be converted into two distribution units and a factory unit.

The application includes the creation of a 263-space car park with space for disability parking and motor cycles.

The report by planning officers at the council says that a considerable number of new jobs could be created through the development - and the tests they apply suggest it would not materially damage the town centre.

There has been considerable development in the Sproughton Road area of the town and they say this could provide new local services for the new homes.

Its proximity to a major junction on the A14 should also make some of the business units popular - and a traffic study found that the new development would only increase traffic along Sproughton Road by about 4% during peak hours.

When the application was lodged with the borough at the end of last year, the Co-op said: "The proposals will provide economic benefits by providing new employment floorspace that will generate additional jobs for the local area and provide daytime spending, supporting the retail and leisure facilities."

Sproughton Road is seeing major development. Just the other side of the A14, work has started redeveloping the former sugar beet factory site with a huge warehouse for food distributor LDH La Doria - and there are other outstanding applications for nearby sites which are just outside the borough in Babergh district.