Traffic jams around east Ipswich are at their worst for 40 years – and will only get worse as the number of homes in the area increases, a long-standing resident of the area has warned.

And Randall Bevan, who lives in Bucklesham Road, warned things would only get worse if development continues to the east of the town.

He said: “I’ve lived here since 1976, almost 40 years, and it’s never been as bad as it is now.

“This week in the middle of Tuesday afternoon it was impossible to get along Bucklesham Road or any of the other roads in the area.

“I’d gone to Homebase (next to Sainsbury’s) and it was very very difficult to get the short distance there and back again.”

Mr Bevan said many of the small residential streets in the town and the country lanes on the edge of town were used as rat-runs and when there was any problem in any of these the whole road network could grind to a halt.

He said: “This week we had the fire that closed Woodhouse Lane. That is quite a busy rat-run and it led to all the other roads coming to a halt.

“The problem is we keep getting developments of 15 homes here and 20 homes there. There is another proposal to build on the Civil Service Sports’ Club site. They’re not big developments but put them together and they all add up.”

The county council is trying to ease congestion in parts of east Ipswich, with off-peak work taking place at Ransomes Way near the entrance to Futura Park and the Sandlings retail park.

However in the short term this has caused increased congestion with off-peak temporary traffic lights controlling traffic and leading to queues around Warren Heath roundabout.

The problems also extend to other roads including Felixstowe Road and Nacton Road while the traffic lights are switched on.

A spokesman for Suffolk Coastal, which is responsible for planning to the east of Ipswich, said the county council – as highways’ authority – was consulted on all planning applications for new properties.

He said if there were objections on highways grounds they were always considered very seriously.

But at the county, officials stressed the role of the highways’s authority in deciding planning permission was only advisory – and each application was considered on its own merits. It could not always take account of other applications which had not been acted on.