ANOTHER 600 homes could be added to the building boom that is changing the face of Ipswich, the Evening Star can reveal today.Plans for around 400 flats and houses in Bramford Road look set to be given the green light at Ipswich Borough Council's planning committee meeting on Wednesday.

ANOTHER 600 homes could be added to the building boom that is changing the face of Ipswich, the Evening Star can reveal today.

Plans for around 400 flats and houses in Bramford Road look set to be given the green light at Ipswich Borough Council's planning committee meeting on Wednesday.

And at least 200 homes are earmarked in an outline report for a site in Foxhall Road but this will not go before the planning committee for several weeks.

A few years ago, around 200 homes were built annually, but this figure has jumped to more than 600 and is set to rise to over 750 over the next two years.

Ipswich Borough is poised to grow by a further 16,000 households in the next 15 years, making it the fastest growing town in the East of England.

James Hehir, chief executive of Ipswich Borough Council, said: "There is phenomenal growth in the town. It is changing Ipswich for the better and providing much-needed homes, many of them affordable.

"We are in the right place at the right time to attract more investment and more jobs while still ensuring improvements to the environment. This will all help the university project.

He added: "This confidence in Ipswich is real and is making a difference. It makes our retail, leisure and cultural facilities more viable."

The vast majority of these developments are being built on brownfield sites - in line with government targets - and the latest two are also set to replace industrial premises.

Crest Nicholson developers has proposed 383 one and two-bedroom flats and two, three and four-bedroom houses on the Europa Way business park between Bramford Road and Sproughton Road.

The land is currently urban wasteland that has been fly-tipped in the past, according to the planning report.

Mersea Homes has submitted an outline planning application for possibly 200 homes on the Bull Motors and Celestion site in Foxhall Road. The six-hectare site has lain bare for almost three years.

Mike Smith, head of planning and development for Ipswich Borough Council, said: "The existing site is doing nothing for the area. It is disused and overgrown. It is brownfield land, which could be developed for residential purposes."

What do you think about the housing boom in Ipswich? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

FACT FILE: New housing schemes

313 homes under way on the east of the Waterfront

113 flats and houses off Duke Street - to be completed by Christmas

150 homes off Wherstead Road

40 flats on Bishop's Hill

71 homes in Ranelagh Road - under construction

76 homes in Handford Road - to be completed

144 flats in Yarmouth Road

More than 600 homes built on a 1,200-house development at Ravenswood