ANTI-development campaigner Ian Cowan is today celebrating his election as a new parish councillor for Trimley St Martin.

ANTI-development campaigner Ian Cowan is today celebrating his election as a new parish councillor for Trimley St Martin.

More than 200 people voted in the election yesterday, called after the Save Trimley Against Growth (STAG) campaign requested a poll to fill a vacancy on the council.

STAG member Mr Cowan was elected with 154 votes. Trimley Carnival chairman John Sills gained 36 and former Kirton and Falkenham Parish Council chairman Robert Parker 32.

Mr Cowan said: “This is a resounding victory for democracy and sends out a clear message to anyone who is out of touch with village feelings or complacent in any way about the impending destruction of our community.

“Suffolk Coastal District Council is shortly to recommend the building of up to 2,700 houses on greenfields surrounding our village. They have ignored the facts and used out of date statistics to justify their reasoning.

“As a member of STAG I have campaigned against this perverse process and as a member of the parish council I will strive to make my views known even more effectively within the local government system.

“However, being a parish councillor has other responsibilities as well and I will endeavour to play a part in all of the issues affecting our village - no matter how small.”

STAG has been fighting for three years against the suggestion that hundreds of home should be built in the villages, turning it into a suburb of Felixstowe.

The group says the housing is unnecessary and unfair, and the villages need only a small number of affordable homes.

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

Do you think the fields in the twin Trimley villages should be taken for housing? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk