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The fire station site in Colchester Road is proposed for housing in IBC's development brief. This residential area is surely better for housing than for a supermarket with all its traffic.

The Cobbold Family History Trust will mount an exhibition in the Reg Driver Centre, Christchurch Park, featuring the Cobbolds in Ipswich and the story of Margaret Catchpole. Its opening on Friday, 8 April will also involve the dedication of the Society's Blue Plaque commemorating Felix Thornley Cobbold (1841-1909), the town's greatest benefactor.

Three large wind turbines may be erected in the Belstead area. First mooted a few years ago, they are now the subject of consultations by IBC with residents and a renewable energy developer. It is to be hoped that the problems can be overcome.

Giles Circus, the town's newly created public space, is being kept clean, though it's a constant battle against gum droppers and advertising A-boards. Whether traffic should still be allowed through remains controversial.

Container ships at Felixstowe docks will soon be even bigger. Maersk has commissioned 10 new ships to be built in Korea. Made for the China-Europe run, they will be so wide that only Felixstowe, Rotterdam and Bremerhaven in Europe can take them.

'Ipswich Chord' - Network Rail will construct this new connection between the Inter-City line and the E Suffolk and Felixstowe lines as a double track, costing over £40m. Called the 'bacon curve' because it skirts the boundary of the old Harris bacon factory off Hadleigh Road, it will enable freight trains to/from Felixstowe to go direct to the Midlands and North.