VILLAGERS in Trimley St Martin today pledged to fight any attempts to build hundreds of new homes in their community, which the new masterplan for the area says will be needed in future.

VILLAGERS in Trimley St Martin today pledged to fight any attempts to build hundreds of new homes in their community, which the new masterplan for the area says will be needed in future.

Consultants who have drawn up the blueprint for the next 15 years say without significant growth the Felixstowe area will stagnate, lose schools, shops see trade drop, and its population reduce.

They have earmarked several sites which could be developed for housing and say if the resort goes for growth - needed to safeguard its future and provide homes for those who will take 1,400 new jobs to be created at the port - then fields in Trimley St Martin will have to be developed.

The fields either side of the High Road could provide 1,060 to 1,600 new homes - in a scheme very similar to that proposed by landowners Trinity College, Cambridge.

Parish clerk Tracey Hunter said the council was relieved the masterplan did not include any major housing proposals in the village in its first three scenarios but was “extremely concerned” at the ideas for growth.

She said: “Trimley St Martin Parish Council remains totally opposed to any proposals that would destroy the character of this village and its surrounding countryside.

“This council's commitment to some small-scale organic growth of the village, including some affordable housing, remains the same - as does our absolute determination to resist any large-scale development.”

Trinity College's vision for the future of Trimley St Martin and St Mary suggests around 1,500 homes, a new school and supermarket, as well as landscape improvements.

Whether any of the ideas put forward in the £100,000 masterplan by David Lock Associates will ever become reality depends on Suffolk Coastal.

The council is drawing up a Local Development Plan for the area and the next stage will be a report this summer on all the parcels of land suggested for homes to gauge the public's view.

WEBLINKS: www.trimley-st-martin.org.uk

www.davidlock.co/felixstowe

www.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk

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

Factfile: Felixstowe

With more people preferring to live alone and many young people leaving the town, Felixstowe will need 1,700 homes over the next 20 years just to keep the same population as now.

Consultants say to cope with the 1,400 jobs being created at the port and some growth, between 2,200 and 3,200 new homes will be needed.

They have suggested using land behind the resort's caravan sites, fields in Walton and the Trimleys for development.

Without new homes, the population will fall, a high school close and possibly a primary, businesses be hit by a drop in trade, and the leisure industry continue to decline.

Other ideas in the masterplan include an enterprise park in Walton, new winter gardens on the seafront, and improvements to create town squares.