IT is great news that UCS and the Waterfront Action Group are working together to find out what kind of open-air sports facilities local residents want to see beside the James Hehir building.

The area between the UCS and the new homes at Orwell Quay will be left as open space with sports facilities and, possibly, a children’s playground.

This kind of area is vital if communities are to be able to flourish – too often, it seems, developers want to build on every last inch of ground without leaving space for people to live.

I do hope this approach is adopted elsewhere in the town. I’d love to see the empty area at St Margaret’s Plain left undeveloped permanently.

Since the old Kwik-Fit garage was demolished the area’s outlook has improved and the pollution problem that had blighted that part of town has disappeared.

While no one wants to see untidy undeveloped sites left in the middle of the town, if we claim that Ipswich is a living community, then it has to have lungs to allow it to breathe!

Over at the Waterfront, UCS and local residents seem to have got that message. I know borough leader David Ellesmere is sympathetic to the argument.

Now we have to hope that landowners who are naturally keen on maximising their profit can be persuaded to agree, for the sake of the town.