MARTLESHAM: Developers have drawn up a project for nearly 300 new homes at Martlesham – where villagers are already fighting to stop farmland being lost to housing.

The scheme – for fields between the rear of homes in Main Road and Felixstowe Road – is in addition to the 2,000 properties and other facilities being proposed for the BT Adastral Park site just 300 yards away.

Officials from Bloor Homes unveiled the new development project at an exhibition at the Martlesham Heath Community Hall.

A company spokesman said no planning application had yet been made to Suffolk Coastal council and the details were still being finalised.

The company has an option to buy the site – which is in two ownerships – if planning consent is gained.

Ecological and traffic studies have been done along with archaeological investigations on the land, which is said to have the remains of a medieval mill and to have housed a Roman encampment.

Bloor says the site, which would be a mix of 283 homes but include nearly 100 social housing units for rent or shared ownership, fits with the policy for new housing to be concentrated on the east of Ipswich and to be near existing facilities.

The Tesco complex, job opportunities and community halls and other facilities are all nearby.

Residents studying the plans said they had mixed feelings.

One woman said attempts had been made before to develop the site and not succeeded; another was disappointed at the lack of recreational facilities or children’s play area.

“It’s an invasion – I don’t like anything about it,” said one man.

? Do you think the land should be developed? Is Martlesham set to have too many new homes? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN, or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk