AROUND 1,500 new homes – half the number campaigners first feared – could be built in the Trimley villages, new proposals revealed today.Landowners Trinity College, Cambridge, unveiled their revision of their vision for the twin communities, with major changes to the project.

AROUND 1,500 new homes - half the number campaigners first feared - could be built in the Trimley villages, new proposals revealed today.

Landowners Trinity College, Cambridge, unveiled their revision of their vision for the twin communities, with major changes to the project.

There has been uproar in Trimley St Mary and Trimley St Martin since the college announced 18 months ago moves to develop all the farmland in the villages between the A14 and railway line with homes and business premises.

A major campaign against the proposals has been launched - and villagers are adamant that they only want around 50 new homes.

But now, following lengthy consultation, the college has scaled down its plans.

Tim Collins, partner in Bidwells, agents for the college, said under current government guidelines for housing density - which may change in the years before any work starts - around 1,200 to 1,500 homes could be built.

The revision had taken note of residents' wishes to keep the villages separate and now there would be no homes built on fields between Gun Lane and Gaymers Lane one side of High Road, nor Church and Thurmans Lanes on the other.

"There is now very clear definition between the two villages - keeping their separate identities was one of the core things which people said during the consultation," said Mr Collins.

"People also said they did not want traffic down these country lanes and the new proposals would ensure they remained green lanes."

The proposals omit the moving of the railway station, but do include a village centre with a supermarket and employment area behind Reeve Lodge, and a primary school plus a site for a secondary school if needed later.

Most of the development would now take place behind the sports and social club and mushroom farm down to the railway line, and between the link road off the A14 and Church Lane. The Farmlands estate would also be "rounded off".

Mr Collins said there would also be extensive landscaping and this would be done well in advance of any development.

At Walton, the area of land for education and housing behind Orwell High School remains, but the route of the proposed link road from the Candlet Road Walton bypass to High Street is slightly altered with housing alongside.

Everything will now hinge on what planners decide over future land uses - and more should be known by mid-2005 when Suffolk Coastal may reveal where it feels new homes should be built on the Felixstowe peninsula.

As reported in yesterday's Evening Star, community action group Save Trimley Against Growth (STAG) is currently putting the finishing touches to its submission to council planners showing why large-scale development would ruin the area.

STAG member Carl Storer said: "Even if there was a need for a large scale housing development - which there is not - there are plenty of other more suitable locations elsewhere.

"All greenfield land is an asset to the community and we are determined to fight Trinity College all the way no matter how long it takes and no matter where the battle leads us."

WEBLINKS: www.savetrimely.co.uk

www.trimley-vision.co.uk

www.trimley-st-mary.org.uk

n How many homes do you think should be built in the Trimleys - and where should they be put? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk