VILLAGERS are today calling for alternative sites to be investigated as they launch their battle to stop a 200-acre port logistics park being built in the heart of the Felixstowe peninsula.

They say the massive �35 million project would be “excessive development” and should be sited on unused industrial land miles away.

The scheme proposed would farmland at Innocence Farm, next to the A14 – an area big enough to swallow Kirton and Trimley St Martin.

Parish Councils at Bucklesham, Kirton and Falkenham, Levington and Stratton Hall, and Trimley St. Mary, are so worried about the scheme – put forward by landowners Trinity College, Cambridge – they have produced a pamphlet to deliver to thousands of homes.

The council said the aim was to work together “to protect the remaining land of the peninsula from excessive development”.

They said: “We are working on behalf of all those who believe that what remains of our countryside should be protected for our children and grandchildren.”

Concerns include:

? The development would urbanise nearly a third of the remaining green field separation between Felixstowe and Ipswich.

? Cause more problems on the A14 and Orwell Bridge, which already exceeds its capacity at peak periods.

? Damage of the widely enjoyed natural environment and wildlife.

? 24 hour warehousing, container and lorry movements, plus a proposed new rail terminal, would mean round the clock noise disturbance and light pollution.

Trimley St Mary parish council chairman Colin Jacobs said the group wanted to make residents aware and ready to fight formal moves to designate Innocence Farm.

“We are talking about a huge site here, big enough to swallow up Trimley St Martin and Kirton – you could put both villages in there and still have space,” he said.

“We need to put together a cogent argument to show why it should not be developed. We support the port but we cannot have anything of this size and magnitude on a site that should remain for agriculture.”

It is claimed the scheme is needed to help the Port of Felixstowe as it prepares to combat the threat of the new �1.5 billion London Gateway container terminal, which will have a 9.25million sq ft business park.

Trinity College has said the project is “long term”. So far only a first stage feasibility study has been done to see if it was possible to develop the land, but it says finding extra port employment sites will be the number one issue for Felixstowe in the next few years.