The Following Letter Was Sent 15Th July 2015 To: Mr
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The following letter was sent 15th July 2015 to: Mr C Noble (Suffolk County Council Cabinet Member for Economic Development) Mr J Finch (Suffolk County Council Member for Highways and Transport) Mr B Lewis (Minister of State for Housing and Planning) and Dr D Poulter (MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich). The email addresses for each parish council were included on the letter for responses from the recipients. The Parish Councils of Great Bealings, Little Bealings, Tuddenham St Martin and Westerfield. We write to you on behalf of the residents of the parishes of Great and Little Bealings, Tuddenham St Martin and Westerfield, to express our concerns about the consequences of the proposed developments of housing and other activities in the vicinity of our rural surroundings. These concerns are largely (but not exclusively) attributable to the northern fringe development in Ipswich Borough and are centred on the consequences of increased traffic generated that will pass through our parishes. We appreciate the need for further housing , not only in our areas but across the country, and would point out that the rural environments of Great and Little Bealings, Tuddenham St Martin and Westerfield help to make Ipswich and its surroundings such an appealing place in which to live and work. It is important therefore that the rural nature of this area and its value as a place of recreation, particularly for walking riding and cycling continue to be preserved. To this end it is essential that the local rural and side road networks (and the national cycle routes that utilise some of these) be protected from becoming overrun by increasing traffic volumes. Our parishes are crossed by several B roads running north and south through the area but are much less well served by roads enabling east west movement, where most of the roads are much smaller and often declassified because the early installation of the former Ipswich By-pass and the old A12 (now the A1214) provided the east west route prior to the construction of the Orwell Bridge. This road (the A1214) now becomes so heavily congested that many drivers elect to utilise the many country lanes as rat runs to avoid the delays encountered on the A1214 itself (typically Lower Road and Church Lane in Westerfield, Humber Doucy Lane and the back road from Woodbridge through Bealings and Tuddenham for North and West Ipswich for example). We appreciate that empirical data has been or is being collated for the major routes likely impacted by these developments and we would ask that similar empirical data is collected for these minor roads also so that decisions may be made on the basis of fact rather than just by hearsay. Many of our B and C roads have had to undergo lengthy and costly remediation to meet EU standards to accommodate the larger lorries (for example the work which closed the C323 between Tuddenham and Grundisburgh for more than 7 weeks to shore up the collapsing edges of the road. Similar piecemeal “improvements” across the side road network would be impractical and if carried out would destroy the very asset that makes Ipswich and its surroundings so attractive in the first place. It seems, therefore imperative to us and the residents of our parishes, that a strategic solution to manage the increasing traffic volumes must be identified and deployed concurrently with any developments that lead to increased population and trade both within the areas of new building and also increased prosperity and commercial activity within the Ipswich area as a whole and also the increased traffic to be generated by the Martlesham Heath (Adastral Park) and Felixstowe developments, particularly in the event of closure of the Orwell Bridge. We are aware that there are possibly four options which could provide some resolution to this problem, or possibly a combination of the second, third and fourth option and these are: 1 Providing an entirely new East West route - probably to the North of Ipswich 2 Improving the traffic flow along the existing East west route (the A1214) 3 Providing improved access to the existing A14 and A12 trunk roads by way of feeder roads such as a road from the proposed Ipswich Garden Suburb, to access the A 14 near Claydon. 4 Introducing traffic calming measures on the back roads from Woodbridge to Ipswich with the aim of discouraging traffic from using the route as a rat run. We and, the residents of our parishes, are concerned that the official presentations made available to us for the Ipswich Garden Suburb do not seem to be taking the issues of traffic seriously and appear to be relying on outdated data to support their case for avoiding improvements or even suggesting that other agencies might provide a solution. To sleepwalk into this without a realistic and responsible strategy to resolve the traffic requirements of Ipswich’s continued evolution is unacceptable and could lead to disaster: A gridlocked Ipswich will fail to become a thriving and attractive place for new businesses and residents. Rural surroundings and networks will be devastated by increasing rat run traffic. Increased usage of roads by inappropriate traffic volumes (both numbers of vehicles and size of vehicles) will lead to substantial depreciation of the environment and lead to increased death and injuries. The planners of the Ipswich Garden Suburb have an ambitious and praiseworthy vision which is intended to meet the needs of the Ipswich residents of the future, but it is equally important that the lessons of the past and the needs of the existing residents are considered properly too. Yours sincerely, Mrs C Frost (Parish Clerk) signing on behalf of the Parish Councils of Great Bealings, Little Bealings, Tuddenham St Martin and Westerfield. .