The homes were proposed by a well known Suffolk farming family who wanted to set a “national exemplar” by building almshouses for the young.

However the plans have come up against strong opposition from their village who have voiced their concerns on an online application.

Edward Myatt, from Thurston, has applied for up to 58 homes at Apple Tree Cottage at The Drift through development company Purcell, in the village where he has lived since the 1980s.

Mr Myatt, who previously gifted the land for the new village green and helped enable the new community centre, is described in supporting information with the planning application as an “enlightened landowner who has been interested in social housing for over 30 years”.

Purcell proposed that within the new 58 properties would be 12 new almshouses which would be made available to young people aged 20 to 35 at an affordable monthly licence fee to meet the charity’s maintenance costs.

There would also be 37, two and three-bedroom homes including seven bungalows and eight affordable houses.

A cycle track and space for 17 allotment gardens would also be allocated, although current land used for allotments would be lost.

Purcell say the homes would be sympathetic to the “local and historic character of the Thurston” however some residents think that the estate, adding to the existing homes being built, will “overrun” the village.

The online application received 114 public comments, all objecting to the plans by raising a number of concerns.

Many addressed the number of new homes which are already planned for the village, which could double in size over the next five years.

This year 210 homes planned for land south west of Beyton Road have already been approved and a decision on another 210 on land to the east of Ixworth Road was deferred.

Work on a further 818 homes which have been approved for land to the north of Norton Road in five separate parcels has also begun. There are also plans to replace the village’s existing primary school with a new 420 place building.