Proposals to restore and find a new use for the former Tolly Cobbold brewery on Cliff Quay in Ipswich are set to be given the go-ahead by the council on Wednesday.

A detailed planning application for the restoration of the Victorian brewery – which is on the “Buildings at Risk” register with Save Britain’s Heritage at the moment – is to be considered by members of the borough’s planning and development committee.

The recommendation is that it should be approved with conditions – the most significant is that the brewery should be restored before redevelopment of the larger site gets under way.

The committee is also expected to give outline planning permission for development of the larger site with 222 homes, parking, a convenience shop, a café, a health club, and a new building for the Ipswich Transport Museum. The council will require developers to sign an agreement to say work on this site cannot start until the restoration work on the brewery is nearing completion.

The borough council is understood to want to avoid a repeat of the situation at the former County Hall building where the easier parts of the site to redevelop were converted or replaced and the historic heart of the building, including the council chamber, was left to deteriorate.

Overall, planning officers are keen on the proposal, saying: “The proposals offer a scheme delivering a significant number of dwellings, employment, and most significantly the regeneration of the Cliff Brewery building, which is a landmark building at risk, and is therefore welcomed. Overall the proposed scheme would offer an attractive package of mixed uses that would enable the redevelopment of the site as a whole.”

An exhibition showing off the plans was held at the Brewery Tap last month.

If permission is granted, it is hoped that restoration work could start on the brewery later this year.

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