BUILDING more than 140 new homes in Saxmundham could seriously stretch its already struggling infrastructure, it has been claimed.Hopkins Homes wants to build 149 new homes, including 45 affordable houses, on land to the north of Church Hill, in Saxmundham.
BUILDING more than 140 new homes in Saxmundham could seriously stretch its already struggling infrastructure, it has been claimed.
Hopkins Homes wants to build 149 new homes, including 45 affordable houses, on land to the north of Church Hill, in Saxmundham.
However 33 objections have already been lodged with Suffolk Coastal District Council, which will make the final decision.
Saxmundham town councillors have so far supported the application, but town mayor Col Rob Warren said there would have to be some serious provisos.
He said: “We have concerns about the infrastructure - schooling, medical facilities, sewerage, that sort of thing - and whether it can cope.
“We need assurances that these issues will be dealt with before this application is allowed to go forward.”
He added the town of Saxmundham had doubled in size in five years, but believed the application for a further 149 homes could secure a settled future for the town.
“A development of this kind could secure the future of a town like Saxmundham and we would not object to it going ahead but there would need to be some attention given to the road system as well as the services in the town.”
He said at the moment there was only one exit road proposed for the site and there was undoubtedly a need for a second one - and he believed no account had been taken of another development on the south side of Church Hill, near Somerfield.
“A few of my fellow councillors said there would be huge bottlenecks if you take into account traffic trying to get into this new development, the other one and Somerfield. There seems to be an assumption that one access can cope,” said Col Warren.
A spokesman for Suffolk Coastal District Council said the application could go before the planners in October.
No-one from Hopkins Homes, which is based at Melton, near Woodbridge, was available for comment.
karen.hindle@eadt.co.uk
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