DEVELOPERS of a business park say they are not trying to duck out of putting in place measures to protect villagers but want sensible phasing for the work.

DEVELOPERS of a business park say they are not trying to duck out of putting in place measures to protect villagers but want sensible phasing for the work.

Landowners Trinity College, Cambridge, have been trying for six years to attract users for the 170-acre site at Trimley St Mary - but one reason for the failure of negotiations has often been the scale of work needed before building can start.

Planning permission insists landscaping, huge earth embankments to hide the industrial site, noise measures, and £2.5 million worth of roads and traffic safety work must be done as soon as the site at Clickett Hill is occupied.

However, this has proved uneconomic, especially for small firms looking for land for their business.

Now Trinity College has applied for early release of part of the site next to the A14 for storing containers, but has asked if it can be done without landscaping, embankments, traffic safety work, or noise measures at this stage.

Residents in Trimley St Mary are furious and say it means removing all the items put in place to protect them and their environment.

Tim Collins, a partner in Bidwells, acting as agents for Trinity College, said it would simply mean the measures being delayed - and the planners would insist on a timescale when they should be in place.

He said: "There is no desire on the college's part not to do the work - it fully intends to comply with the landscaping, highways and other infrastructure.

"But what we are seeking to do is purely to phase it in a different way, a more sensible way, which will help us to unlock this site and begin development.

"They are complex issues and we are in discussion with the planning officers on them at this moment. I hope the planning position will then become much clearer."

It is hoped the development will eventually create hundreds of jobs but planners have stressed it cannot be used simply for container storage parks.

They are insisting a large section should be used for industrial units, workshops or laboratories, or for offices, such as headquarters for major companies.

One project being considered is an "enterprise village" to train people for careers in the shipping industry.

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