Waterfront transport warning

IPSWICH Waterfront may have reached the limit of its expansion without major investment in new roads, a senior borough figure warned today.

Transport spokesman Paul West warned: “We are soon going to reach the stage where we cannot take any more development in that area without huge new infrastructure projects.

“There is only so much new traffic that you can put on the roads in the area before it completely seizes up - and that is a vital route across the town.”

Cllr West said he would resist any attempt to cut down the two-lane road around the dock to a single-lane, but felt even the existing road network could reach breaking point.

“As long as I am borough transport spokesman that road will not be narrowed - that would be a disaster for the town,” he said.

New blocks of flats are currently being built at The Mill and at Regatta Quay.

Permission has been granted for flats to be built on the site of the former St Peter's Warehouse - destroyed by fire in 2000 - and the neighbouring Paul's Maltings site.

And there is also planning permission granted for a further 200 to be built on the former BOCM Pauls site and for social housing between Star Lane and Key Street/College Street - a total of more than 1,000 new homes.

Mr West said: “The new development on BOCM Pauls is very good, and I don't think that will cause many new problems on the roads. But other major developments could be problematic.”

He warned that any development of the island site would require major new roads in the town centre: “You could not have all the traffic using the single entrance at Stoke Bridge. There are major issues there,” he said.

Proposals for both an east bank link road and a wet dock lock crossing have been put on the backburner because of fears about cost, environmental damage and difficulty of accessing the A14.