Felixstowe 2,000-home development question and answer held

A panel of representatives from East Suffolk Council, Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coastal MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter answered questions about the North Felixstowe Garden Neighbourhood project at a consultation event at Felixstowe School attended by 160 people on Thursday.

MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter was at the event (Image: Labour Party)

Members of the public at the ticketed event asked questions on a range of themes, including the development's likely effect on infrastructure, especially schools and doctors' surgeries, the level of housing need and the impact on leisure facilities.

A previous consultation on the project (Image: Newsquest)

READ MORE: Concern about North Felixstowe Garden Neighbourhood scheme

The consultation was focused on a 1,440-home section of the development, being overseen by the district council, between the A14 Dock Spur roundabout and Eastward Ho! as the remaining homes have already received planning permission and are being built at Trelawny Place.

The Q&A heard that the land was allocated within the Suffolk Coastal Local Plan, which guides decisions on development and if no homes were built there then the Local Plan would be invalid.

The result could be that developers could build wherever they wanted within the town.

Felixstowe councillor Seamus Bennett (Image: Charlotte Bond)

East Suffolk councillor Seamus Bennett, who represents the eastern Felixstowe ward, said between 2001 and 2015 fewer homes had been built in Felixstowe than elsewhere - a rate of less than 100 new builds per year.

READ MORE: East Suffolk Council holding event at Felixstowe School

He said: "I had thought that this development was unfair and that Felixstowe was taking more than its fair share and this was untrue."

He added he did not think the town was being "hard done by" on numbers of new homes when considered in the context of the last 25 years.

Infrastructure was a big concern for the audience at the consultation, particularly the impact on schools and surgeries as Felixstowe School is the town's only secondary school and is near capacity.

Councillor Steve Wiles (Image: SCC)

But county councillor Steve Wiles, who represents Felixstowe Coastal, revealed there was space to extend the school to accommodate the extra students.

Meanwhile, he said staff at the Grove Medical Centre, the surgery closest to the new development, were looking to convert four rooms on the premises to provide another 60 appointments per week to meet demand.

READ MORE: Fears about future of Eastward Ho! and Grove in Felixstowe

The future of Eastward Ho! was another hot topic at the consultation as the playing fields are well used by football teams, running clubs and dog walkers.

East Suffolk councillor David Beavan, the cabinet member with responsibility for housing, said no homes would be built on the playing fields, while a primary school mooted for the site would only be built on part of the playing field if there was a need for it.

Councillor David Beavan (Image: SARAH LUCY BROWN)

Following the Q&A, opinion was split among attendees over whether they felt reassured by the discussions.

Felixstowe resident Dave Angliss said: "I think it is good to have the councillors in the room and the MP because they talked quite honestly about how they felt."

READ MORE: East Suffolk Council buys Felixstowe home in "strategic purchase"

But another Felixstowe man, Jeremy Ayling, said: "It is shocking. I felt absolutely no reassurance."

He said instead of pursuing the North Felixstowe Garden Neighbourhood, other sites within the town should be developed, including the Marlborough Hotel on the seafront and the former Cavendish Hotel site in Sea Road.

Earlier this week, Felixstowe Town Council issued a statement calling for the development plans to be paused to allow for issues around the number of homes and a lack of school places to be addressed.