RESIDENTS claim they have not been consulted over their village being reclassified from a rural community to an urban one - which could mean massive housing projects being permitted.

RESIDENTS claim they have not been consulted over their village being reclassified from a rural community to an urban one - which could mean massive housing projects being permitted.

In new consultation documents on the future of Suffolk Coastal, Trimley St Mary and Trimley St Martin have been robbed of their status as villages and lumped together with Felixstowe to create “a major centre”.

This means the area is capable of having “large scale development to meet strategic needs”.

Trimley St Mary councillor Barbara Shout said the villages had been classed as local service centres where groups of houses or infill between properties would be allowed, not hundreds or thousands of homes.

“It appears from the documents that only two places out of 115 parishes have had their status changed - the two Trimley villages - so that we can have the new homes they want to put here,” she said.

“We need to insist that we keep the status we had. This is not a major urban area.

“I cannot remember the parish council being consulted on this change and if it paves the way for the major building it will have an impact on the Trimley villages for the next 50 years.”

Six options have been put forward for housing in the district, which needs to find sites for 3,620 new homes in the next 15 years.

Four options suggest building more than 2,200 of them in Felixstowe and the Trimleys.

Planners say because of its increasing number of smaller households, Felixstowe area will need 1,740 new homes by 2026 to accommodate its existing population. If no homes are built, the population will drop by 3,650, mainly young families and children being lost with the younger generations already having to look outside the town for careers and housing.

Suffolk Coastal said since 2001 it had carried out a continuous programme of public consultation and engagement with parish councils and other community groups.

“This has included workshops, meetings and the publication of documents such as the invitation to identify issues and draft objectives. The results have provided input into this (consultation) document,” it said.

People have until April 2 to send in their comments.

A public meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Wednesday Marc

WEBLINK: www.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk h 14 at the Memorial Hall, Trimley St Martin. Suffolk Coastal cabinet member Andy Smith and MP John Gummer will speak.

Where do you think new homes should be built in the Felixstowe area? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk