CONTROVERSIAL proposals for a new East Bank link road to Ipswich port have today been given backing by the town's civic group.The Ipswich Society says the proposed road would be good for the environment of the town as a whole – although it recognises there is a price to be paid because the road will go "pretty close" to Piper's Vale.

By Paul Geater

CONTROVERSIAL proposals for a new East Bank link road to Ipswich port have today been given backing by the town's civic group.

The Ipswich Society says the proposed road would be good for the environment of the town as a whole – although it recognises there is a price to be paid because the road will go "pretty close" to Piper's Vale.

"But the environmental gains, not only to the residents of Landseer and Nacton Roads, but also on cross-town link roads, would be considerable," said the Society's vice-chairman John Norman in its latest newsletter.

"The Ipswich Society believes that an East Bank Link Road should be a priority in the local plan, that it will have a greater benefit for the residents and to the economy of the town than a new river crossing and considerably more than the proposed West Bank Road," he said.

The new road would also allow for economic regeneration in the Greenwich area of town which is currently blighted by high unemployment.

Property developer Samuel Beadie Ltd has offered to build the road as part of a new retail development on the site of the former Volvo depot overlooking the river.

Its proposed road would pass beside Piper's Vale and through some former allotments in Morland Road which are now classified as a nature reserve.

Among objectors to this plan is the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

Director Julian Roughton said today that the road would cause great damage to the local nature reserve, which was home to many species of plants and reptiles.

"People in Ipswich are very lucky to have this nature reserve on their doorstep, and action needs to be taken to protect it," he said.

The Trust held walks in the are which attracted more than 500 people who protested against the plans – and it had handed out 1,300 forms to people who wanted to lodge their objections to the plans to Ipswich council.

The borough has included the East Bank link in its draft local plan which will be discussed at a public inquiry later in the year.

However the council is recommending that the link should only be built if a West Bank link, behind Wherstead Road, and a bridge over the Wet Dock lock fails to solve traffic problems around the docks.