Thurston Ixworth Road 59-home plan given go-ahead by council

Persimmon Homes plans for 59 homes on land to the west of Ixworth Road in Thurston were given the nod of approval by Mid Suffolk District Council's planning committee on Wednesday, October 23.

The proposals, reduced by two homes from the original 61, include 20 affordable dwellings and 39 market homes and make up the second phase of the Persimmon Homes development.

Some 124 objections were lodged when the plans were originally submitted, with concerns ranging from road safety to infrastructure issues. 

During the meeting on Wednesday, councillor James Patchett, for Stow Thorney, said: "I sometimes question my value of even being here really because quite often our hands are just tied with the national planning policy framework.

Cllr James Patchett (Image: Babergh District Council) "When are we going to stop hammering these villages that have got to travel miles to get to GP surgeries? When does it stop?

"What can I actually do on this committee when I am seeing something that I don't want but the rules are just against what people actually want and are all in favour of developers?" 

This comes after the government has revealed its aims to build 1.5m more homes across the country in the next five years.

As a result all Suffolk districts are set to increase the target number of houses to be built per year - with Mid Suffolk rising from 535 to 753.

Meanwhile, Babergh will move from 416 to 763 while East Suffolk will rise from 905 to 1,696. 

West Suffolk numbers will increase from 765 to 1,200 and Ipswich's yearly totals will increase from 466 to 755. 

A CGI of the street scene (Image: Persimmon Homes) During Wednesday's meeting, Thurston parish councillor Julian West said: "Mitigation for Thurston's many developments currently extends to just a new primary school, already requiring an extension, and some minimal highways and junction improvements, most of which are yet to be implemented.

"No additional commercial, retail, community space or, more importantly, health facilities are being provided to Thurston outside of the mandatory green space requirements." 

He said Thurston requires "real solutions" and added that the current state of Ixworth Road is "genuinely appalling". 

However, Stuart McAdam, head of planning for Persimmon Homes Suffolk, said key benefits from the development included the creation of an "integrated and sustainable" residential community, a range of home types and tenures, delivery of new open spaces, new pedestrian and cycle routes and parking in accordance with council standards. 

He described the development as "excellent" and said it would incorporate air source heat pumps, a combination of sustainable building techniques and EV charging points on all plots.

Cllr Nicholas Hardingham, for Stonham, said he felt the committee needed to be "realistic" about the options available to them. 

Cllr Nicholas Hardingham (Image: Babergh District Council) "The planning officer has obviously put a good deal of effort in to make the best of the situation in front of us and I feel that the possibility of refusing the application because of the general feeling within Thurston and the overdevelopment is just not an option in front of us," he said. 

The committee went to a vote and the plans were approved with six votes for, two against.

Following the decision, cllr Harry Richardson, who represents Thurston on Mid Suffolk District Council, said: "I am deeply disappointed to see this application approved.

"The design and layout are inconsistent with Thurston’s Neighbourhood Development Plan but both myself and the parish council had asked for further revisions to be made to the scheme.

Cllr Harry Richardson (Image: Babergh District Council) "The planning committee had the option of deferring the application to allow these improvements to be made, but instead decided to approve it in full, which does a disservice to the more than one hundred local residents who objected to the development." 

Cllr David Bradbury, who also represents Thurston, said: "The 59 homes will be within the planning/development envelope (it had been decided previously that this piece of land will be built on in some way) and that was the sticking point.

"Had this planning application been outside the village and not in-fill, it would have been unlikely to have been approved. However without a time machine to change decisions made seven years ago, we have to make the best of the current situation." 

Cllr David Bradbury (Image: Babergh District Council) He said the village has been "subject to five large developments" in recent years and added that he had more emails and messages about this development than anything else since being elected with concerns including highways issues, the number of lorries, the lack of GPs, dentists and schools in the area. 

He continued to say the council had secured a number of concessions, including 100% air source heat pumps, solar panels, 10% biodiversity net gain and a 20mph speed limit.

He said: "A local young person might get a chance to have their own home - that would be a positive. Extra traffic on very poor roads – negative.

"This development is only about 6% extra on top of the big five so not much extra traffic compared to what the village has been subjected to."

Several other large developments have been approved recently in the county, including 400 homes at King James' Park in Newmarket and 150 homes north of Conway Close and Swallow Lane, in Felixstowe.