Planning Matters

Land north of the railway & east of Henley Road (Outline - Crest, Nicholson). 1,100 dwellings, local shopping centre, primary school, sports facilities, Country Park, open space, 2 vehicle accesses to Henley Road, two railway bridges, one for pedestrians and cyclists and one for vehicles. As the application is an outline, most matters are reserved so details are not available. Our concentration will be directed towards transport and services. The overall general plans seem good and the Country Park not just a token. Crest have a good architect and may have changed since Hayhill times. We shall see. However, it is important to realise that this is just the first of many applications to follow for the Ipswich Garden Suburb as we now know it which will transform the Northern Fringe of the town over the next 15 years. Upwards of ten thousand people will live there with schools, shops, medical centres, and leisure facilities including a country park. The implications for the Town are huge and have hardly been taken on board. But it is going to happen.

Land between John Lewis & the railway. Ten 2.0 Megawatt gas powered turbines to produce 20 Megawatts of electricity for the Grid and…

Old Cliff Quay power station site. 48 bio-diesel generators, requiring two tankers a week, producing 40 Megawatt stand-by electricity for the grid. Not on for more than two hours/day, or 200 hrs/year, all between 7.30am & 10.30pm. This is the new pattern of power production; the North Sea and solar panels are producing a lot but instant back-up is required for wind-less and sun-less times. We are looking at the deathknell of huge power stations, however fuelled. These generators will provide that relatively discreetly, if not very sustainably.

Donalds Volvo & Mazda garage. Twin glass and steel boxes at the roundabout in Futura Park. The west side of the old Cranes site, now Futura Park, will become a major go-to auto centre with Jaguar, Land-Rover, Audi and now Volvo with Mazda.

Civic Drive & St Matthews Street (former Iceland & Queen's Head). Change of use to large global fusion food restaurant. The owners are Chatham-based. No details whatsoever of external appearance.

The Cornhill. We've sent our objections to the scheme in and spoken to the architects. We await the results of the 2000+ replies that were sent (they were predominantly strong objections) and a planning application. [See also Chairman's remarks, page 3.]

Orwell Crossings. A business plan and a proposal for three crossings of the Upper Orwell has been allocated £85 million in the Government's infrastructure list and Suffolk County Council's Cabinet has allocated £10 million to carry forward the planning stages. Details of the connecting roads, how high the bridge is from around the Cobbold Brewery to Bath Street and of the vehicle bridge across New Cut are all sparse . It seems curious to us that ABP have agreed to pedestrians and cyclists crossing the lock when we fought a Rights of Way case a few years ago at which their QC persuaded the Planning Inspector that it was not possible. It is unlikely it will have as beneficial an effect on traffic in the Star Lane gyratory as their advisers say. We shall see. Perhaps it needs Brussels funding.

Mike Cook