The first homes on a new 560-home edge-of-town estate have been completed and occupiers will move in this year.

Trelawny Place at Felixstowe is being built off the Candlet Road, Walton bypass, into open countryside close to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The land was previously used as meadows for horses and to house a number of small businesses, including a boat builder and a sign-making company.

East Anglian Daily Times: Homes at the new traffic light junction of Trelawny PlaceHomes at the new traffic light junction of Trelawny Place (Image: Archant)

House builder Persimmon says the development "will bring much-needed new homes and an economic boost to the area, laying the foundations for a thriving new community to the north of the town".

The first homes close to a new traffic light junction at the entrance to the development are now finished with some sold and a show-house also open.

Candlet Road has been widened to accommodate the right-turn lane into the estate, with new pedestrian crossings. A new cycleway/footpath has been built from the estate to the doctors' surgery at the top of Beatrice Avenue, and a footpath link is under construction on the Walton side.

The development's name commemorates Ian Trelawny, who with Gordon Parker developed the ailing Port of Felixstowe in the 1950s into a major trade powerhouse and container port.

East Anglian Daily Times: Homes at the new traffic light junction of Trelawny PlaceHomes at the new traffic light junction of Trelawny Place (Image: Archant)

Phase one of the project will see 255 two-, three-, four- and five-bed homes built with 85 of them affordable homes.

Persimmon's 560-home project is seen as the first phase of a 2,000-home garden neighbourhood and it will feature play provision, open space and landscaping, a circular pathway and pedestrian and cycle ways linking the development to the wider garden neighbourhood.

The mixture of traditional and contemporary house types will be have 20% of energy from renewable sources, electric vehicle charging points, wildlife habitats and water features.

East Anglian Daily Times: The Gulpher Road area of FelixstoweThe Gulpher Road area of Felixstowe (Image: Archant)

Later phases will include a community centre, 60 bedroom extra care home and 50 assisted living units, and business units.

Talks are under way between the district council and landowners in the area to assemble the site for the garden neighbourhood - stretching from Eastward Ho to the A14 dock spur roundabout and set to include a £25million state-of-the-art leisure centre - and draw up a masterplan.