Boss Hall Dairy, Sproughton Road. The Co-op Dairy, which commenced in 1932, finally closed in 2014 and was later demolished. It is proposed to build a large distribution and storage warehouse on the site. Shielded from the road by fresh landscaping, all access will be from the rear of the premises. The building will be sustainable,16% of its power deriving from solar panels and lighting control by a sophisticated system.

316-318 Tuddenham Road. Unfortunately, the Montessori Nursery School, opposite the Millenium Cemetery, has gone into liquidation, but the owner now seeks to open a Montessori High School in the same buildings. This will be the first in East Anglia and one of only three in the whole of the UK. Apparently, there is big demand for places, even from abroad. There will be less traffic on Tuddenham Road for the time being.

Car wash, St Margarets Green. They seek an extension of their permission. This is a site allocated to housing at high density. The car wash was allowed because there was nobody willing to build on the site. The Freemasons believe that the high pressure washing is doing damage to the southern wall of the grade 2 Masonic Hall (entrance in Soane Street).

The Alton Building, The Ipswich Hospital. This modular, white, two-storey building was placed in the car park serving the Maternity Block under the Covid emergency planning permission for a short term. It is used for Clinical Support staff and for conducting Virtual Consultations. On a site not renowned for its architectural elegance, this block is possibly the nadir. It will be improved by the addition of a canopy with appropriate signage, the application of vertical bands of panels coloured ivory, three shades of grey and white with additional landscaping and planting.

Sailmakers. The shops we use are on the lower ground and ground floors; these proposals are for the first and second floors which are currently unused, apart from some storage. The plan is to put 15 apartments on the first floor (9 x one-bed, 1 x 2-bed and 5 x one-bed studios) and on the second floor a further 5 one-bed, 5 two-bed and 3 one-bed studios. Swish Architects say that all the habitable rooms have windows and accord with the national space standards (just). We all welcome more living space in the town centre but the proliferation of these tiny cell-like living accommodations is not going to raise the standards we all seek in central Ipswich. This application is a prior notice (‘P3JPA’) which means that as long as various conditions are being met, planners are, in practice, obliged to grant permission.

Garden of 34 Henley Road. It is proposed to build a three-bedroom, two-storey house in the garden of the Edwardian house on the corner of Elsmere and Henley Roads. It has been the subject of a pre-application considered by officers and the Conservation Panel. Many of the objections have been addressed but it remains, in some people's view, an overdevelopment. It leaves the original house with a garden not on the scale of the house whilst the new build’s garden barely fills IBC’s dimension criteria. The design by Wince, Kievenaar Architects is basically traditional; but with fashionable use of Corten steel.

Ipswich Garden Suburb Land North East of railway (Crest Nicolson). This application concerns the infrastructure for phases 1b, 2, 3, of Crest’s development. It includes detailed planning for roads, lighting, paths, landscaping and pumping stations. There is little architecture to consider except the pumping station which would do nicely for a 1930s garage.

ITFC Portman Road. The football club has purchased the former Staples store and the land between it and the South (Sir Alf Ramsey) stand. It has been able to erect an access to the pitch for HGVs so that the pitch can be levelled, relaid on a modern sand-based hybrid foundation, drained and heated. The ground is the 28th largest in the country but the pitch is one of the last to be traditional soil-based. It will also allow the ground to be used for non-football events such as concerts. The entrance to the South stand will be through 14 fully automated turnstiles, all from Portman Road. So, no pedestrians will access the ground from Constantine Road – much safer. The club has also improved all the facilities at the Rushmere Road training ground and added three full-size Premier league pitches. This serious investment by the new American owner is good news for the club – and for the Town because a successful club gives Ipswich confidence and uplift.

51 Landseer Road. This proposal is to convert an ordinary three-bed semi into an eight-bed HMO by using the extensions to the rear, already granted permission. The bedrooms will be tiny, hardly big enough to take a chair; there are five bedrooms and a kitchen/lounge on the ground floor whilst on the second floor there are three more bedrooms plus a bathroom and a separate toilet. Outside, the garden would be laid down to parking for eight cars. This is not the way to solve the housing crisis.

3 Barrack Corner. Currently a bridal shop, it stands on the apex of the corner between Clarkson Street and London Road. It is highly visible as one goes west along Norwich Road; it is in a Conservation area though not listed. It is going to be an ‘EU Convenience Store’ and thus they have applied to  install a roller shutter over the door, though there is no detailed description. The Society objects to solid exterior shutters as being forbidding and counterproductive. A perforated shutter inside the door would be preferable.

10 Kemball Street. This proposal is to fit in a three storey modern house at the end of terrace. It would have a lounge/diner/kitchen on the ground floor, and three bedrooms, all with ensuite facilities on the two upper floors. Space for two cars at the front and a small garden at the rear. Designed by Beanland Associates, it is in a refreshingly modern style, avoiding pastiche; but why the chimney?

Ipswich Garden Suburb, Crest Nicolson. When granting permission for the bridges over the railway recently, it was reassuring to be told that the clearance was high enough to allow for future overhead electrification conductor wires. Now, they wish to raise the clearance by no less than 1.4 metres. This will not affect the vehicle bridge greatly but the pedestrian/cycle bridge will need its ramps extending to no less than 80 metres at a slope of 1:22 plus 50 metres of landings. P.S.: They will all be painted Holly Green to ‘fit in’ (and presumably will require repainting).

104 St Helens Street. Formerly Robertsons, greengrocers, this timber-framed, lath and lime plaster walled merchant’s house with the other half – formerly the Freudian Sheep Gallery –  dates from 1600 and is listed grade 2; it is in St Helens Conservation Area. It consists of a commercial space onto St Helens Street with a store to the rear and two rooms above. There is a modern one storey extension to the rear. The proposal is to retain the commercial unit and to replace the current rear extension with a two storey one on the same footprint. Therefore there would be space for three student bedrooms with a kitchen/diner/lounge (but no apparent daylight) on the ground floor and a bathroom and ensuite WC on the upper floor. As an added bonus there is a small amenity area and a secure cycle area.

Grafton Way. Formerly the Lower Goods Yard, then B&Q and recently a car park, the site has now been granted permission to proceed with building 147 houses and commercial units. There has been considerable concern as to access to the gardens and their maintenance. Furthermore, The Ipswich Society is reassured about the provision of a wider combined cycle/pedestrian path and access to Princes Street bridge via a demountable ramp. I note there are no affordable units in the development but it is a positive bonus for Ipswich as it brings house-owning families close to the town centre.

14 Stoke Street. This mid-eighteenth century, two-storey, three-bay red brick fronted house is part of the former Defiance public house redevelopment site. The proposal is to fit in as many as eight bedrooms and not to to replace the window on the ground floor because it would interfere with the kitchen – and to make a room in the basement with inadequate light.

Former Hussey Knights, 220 Bramford Road. Not strictly planning, more building control. The design/print shop (much used by Society members) is being converted back into a dwelling. Because the ground floor extensions had a small cavity, regulations require small double-glazed casement windows on each street elevation to keep  the U-value to the level required for the whole wall. The comparison with the late Victorian sash windows, neatly recessed on the first floor, make for an inappropriate conversion.

1 Kettlebaston Way. The result of the appeal by the Care Home Developers to the Planning Inspectorate, expected in October, had not been announced by the time we went to press in early December.

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