Ipswich is growing, its population rising and the number of homes increasing. 

OK, you didn't need me to tell you this but I can put some official (Suffolk County Council) figures on the picture. In the 2011 census the population of the wider conurbation was 178,000, of whom 133,000 lived inside the Borough boundary. This latter figure is estimated to grow to 155,300 by 2036.

These additional families will need somewhere to live; here we look at the Local Plan produced by the District Councils, including Ipswich Borough. Plans for the wider Ipswich include provision (allocated space) for 9,777 dwellings by 2031. The largest clusters will be Brightwell Lakes, Wolsey Gardens and Ipswich Garden Suburb.

Predictions in the Local Plan need to include employment, suggesting land where there is opportunity for the creation of offices, industrial estates and distribution facilities. This is where it gets considerably more difficult; no one at the Borough is expecting a major employer to suddenly arrive and build a car plant, a large scale food processing facility or even a labour-intensive production facility.

These days this type of operation is automated, with the number of employees almost in single figures looking after multiple machines. These machines work many times faster, without breaks, than the former workforce ever did. It matters not if this ‘shed’ is a distribution warehouse or a packaging plant, it might not need labour but it still needs space: land that is accessible, level and conveniently situated.

In the twenty first century these industrial estates are not the major employers, although they are significant in the economy of the town. Today, most people work in the service industries: for the local authority, for the health service – in hospitals and in the multitude of other medical facilities – and in the hospitality and leisure industry.

I have carefully avoided mentioning the one key bugbear in these predictions – that of traffic growth which, according the SCC, is expected to grow by 20% over a similar time period. What is worse is that the growth will not be accompanied by an increase in road space. There might be minor differences as we improve junctions, but in Ipswich the existing street pattern will remain. This predicted increase in traffic will be accompanied by an even bigger increase in congestion, a reduction in air quality and a slowing of economic growth.

Quite logically SCC, as the highway authority, has suggested that, as the population increases, there should be a modal shift from single-occupancy private cars to sustainable transport. Given the problems brought about by the Coronavirus, this is likely to be cycling and walking rather than additional public transport.

So SCC is working on the LCWIP: the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, which comprises suggestions and proposals for all major towns across the county. In Ipswich, where the majority of journeys into the town centre for work, shopping or leisure are less than 4 kilometres, the benefit to the individual of leaving the car at home will be measurable, if only we can persuade drivers to become cyclists.

The proposals are centred on making more road space available to cyclists, making them feel more comfortable, less exposed and more confident to select the bike for the short journey. 

'Pinch points' on the existing infrastructure will be closed to motorised vehicles; this will have the additional benefit of stopping some of the 'rat-runs'.

The narrow tunnel-like bridge under the railway in Bramford Lane is to become pedestrian and cyclists-only, as have the bridges over the railway in Marlborough Road and Fuchsia Lane. Milner Street, close to Suffolk New College, has restricted access which has improved the ambience of Kings Avenue and Oxford Road.

Between Colchester Road and Rushmere Road, Leopold Road and Westbury Road have been closed to through traffic to make cycling less stressful and the cycle lanes around the Colchester Road bypass 'improved'!

Will any of this increase the number of people cycling rather than driving?  Some parts may help.


John Norman

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