A PARCEL of land, less than two-fifths of an acre, off Felixstowe seafront failed to sell at auction - despite bids reaching £260,000.With a guide price of £300,000, owner David Manning had been hoping for more than the sum bid and is now considering his options, including hanging onto the site or a potential private sale if the price is right.

By Richard Cornwell

A PARCEL of land, less than two-fifths of an acre, off Felixstowe seafront failed to sell at auction - despite bids reaching £260,000.

With a guide price of £300,000, owner David Manning had been hoping for more than the sum bid and is now considering his options, including hanging onto the site or a potential private sale if the price is right.

But the auction showed land prices in Felixstowe continue to rise - exacerbating the problems for building affordable homes.

Over the past two years, land sales have included:

£1.52 million for Stowe House in Cliff Road - now demolished and its three-quarters of an acre site to be used for ten flats.

£160,000 for part of a garden in High Road East for a house.

£180,000 for less than a tenth of an acre in Priory Road for one home.

All of them making Suffolk Coastal council's sale of six acres on the seafront with uninterrupted sea views next to a prestigious new maritime-themed park look like a real bargain at £2.3m.

The 0.12-acre site in Platters Road, next to the bowls club and behind Mr Manning's Forum amusement arcade and kiosks in Sea Road, has been used as a car park for the past few years.

It has planning permission for nine two-bed flats, but the three apartments on the ground floor have to be let as holiday accommodation and cannot be lived in permanently, the auction at the Hotel Elizabeth Orwell was told.

Auctioneer Richard Bannister believed it was the holiday apartments clause in the consent which held the price back.

He said: “It's a bit of an unknown quantity in Felixstowe and I think it may have curtailed a certain amount of interest - there is too many question marks over that aspect.

“But the development could be built and the flats on the ground floor be sold en bloc to someone as a package to manage and rent out for holidays and bring in an income.”

Mr Bannister, of Bannister and Co chartered surveyors, auctioneers and estate agents in Hamilton Road, said land prices in Felixstowe remained high and he expected them to continue to rise, despite the prospect of planners allocating land for housing in and around the town.

He believed there would still be small parcels of infill in both Old Felixstowe and other areas coming up for sale.

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