MARTLESHAM: Campaigners fighting proposals for a “new town” of 2,000 homes at Martlesham will today go head-to-head with BT bosses over the project.

Members of No Adastral New Town (NANT) and BT have been invited by the Woodbridge Society to a meeting at the Woodbridge Community Hall today.

Both sides have been asked to make a presentation on their cases – BT for the massive development at its Adastral Park complex, and NANT as to why they want Suffolk Coastal to reject the scheme.

Then the two sides will be invited to quiz each other and ask challenging questions about each other’s case and reasons for it.

Janet Elliot, press officer for NANT, said it should prove to be an interesting debate.

“We will both have the same period of time for our presentations and then it will be a real head-to-head – not audience questions but ourselves and BT against each other,” she said.

“It will be quite challenging and quite intriguing.

“At the moment the BT application is not decided and we feel the public opposition to it is certainly still growing – more than 3,800 people have now signed our petition against it.

“Suffolk Coastal is about to cut the number of homes it believes the area needs but we don’t know the details of what that will involve.”

BT has said the company’s plan is to bring forward a master-planned development over 15 years so the community will have a long-term plan for where new homes and growth should go.

“The approach concentrates the investment and, as a result, magnifies the related benefits in terms of economic, social and community impacts,” said the company.

The project would include 60,000sq m of extra employment area to create around 2,000 jobs, a health centre, hotel, park, community centre, shops, caf�, pub and takeaway, new primary school and possibly a high school.

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