CAMPAIGNERS fighting a plan to build a park and ride scheme on the edge of an East Anglian town are facing defeat after officials recommended the scheme should be approved.

CAMPAIGNERS fighting a plan to build a park and ride scheme on the edge of an East Anglian town are facing defeat after officials recommended the scheme should be approved.

The 550-space facility would be built on land near the junction of the A12 and A1214 at Martlesham in the next five years, if given the go-ahead.

A Suffolk County Council report said the scheme, which has been outlined as a high priority in the county's Local Transport Plan, would improve access to Ipswich town centre and ease traffic congestion in the area.

It recommended planning permission should be conditionally approved, despite concerns about the impact of the scheme on wildlife and trees on the site, which has been declared a special landscape area.

However, Suffolk Coastal District Council has opposed the proposal, saying there was no evidence to show the park and ride scheme at Copdock, near Ipswich, had improved traffic congestion on routes into Ipswich.

Members of Martlesham Parish Council expressed concern it would cause existing transport provision to suffer and would lead to a build-up of traffic on the roundabout as motorists turned into the park and ride site.

Kesgrave Town Council also stated: "We do not believe such a park and ride scheme is commercially viable or that it will be of benefit to Kesgrave residents."

But the county council report said the park and ride scheme was an important part of the planning blueprint for Suffolk.

Members of the county council's development control sub-committee are due to decide whether to grant planning permission for the proposal on November 19.