New business units for Trimley

A NEW small business complex could bring a major boost to a Suffolk village.

Trimley St Mary could be the home of a new retail complex for small craft businesses and workshops if the landowner's plans go ahead.

IP11 management services, which owns the site where Station Nurseries used to be based before it closed down, were hoping to rejuvenate the land and buildings on Cordy's Lane by renting to small businesses.

"We are looking to re-introduce the cottage crafts to get people in to the site to use the site to get some income in to regenerate the site," said Paul Vyse, of IP11 management services.

However the company would be using this complex as a stop-gap as they ultimately want to turn the area in to a modernised garden centre. The small business complex would be used to raise enough cash to rejuvenate the old nursery, which has suffered from the lack of investment for a number of years.

"We're looking for general inquiries, the long term is to re-introduce a garden centre," said Mr Vyse. "We're trying to help the single businesses and the partnerships."

He added that he wanted to give the small business owners an alternative to a shed in the bottom of their garden to create and sell their products from. He said that the new venture would provide those people with workshops and shop premises where their work could be sold in a recognised retail complex.

However there has been a delay in advertising the buildings for rent, as the area has had to be cleared.

The previous tenants who ran Station Nurseries for seven years had to close their business in September because they could not afford an increase in rent and rates.

The nursery manager, Pat Chenery, had complained that the two large undercover stores, a retail shop or workshop and a 200sq metre commercial glass house, were in need of repair as they had not been modernised during the 40 years the site had been used as a nursery.