'ALDI' have recently submitted a planning application for the erection of a retail foodstore, and associated car parking and landscaping on land west of Suffolk One, Scrivener Drive, Pinewood.
The parish council agreed at its meeting held on 16 February to request an extension of time to consider this application in conjunction with the application submitted for the conversion of Belstead House and the proposal to build 13 dwellings in the grounds together with a further 155 dwellings together with a 65 bed care home on land on the edge of Belstead Meadows. It is also concerned that in addition to these applications there is another application soon to be submitted for 350 homes at Chantry Vale.
The parish council is concerned that these developments would all create further traffic congestion in Pinewood and the surrounding area, an area already suffering gridlock on its local estate roads and nearby A1214. With further traffic to be generated from the Vet’s Surgery (including retail outlet) currently being built on Scrivener Drive and any future development on the land given permission for office development to Fred Olsen these all stand to add still further to a road network currently already unable to cope at peak times.
Traffic congestion is therefore a major factor to be considered with all of these proposals and the parish council is urging the District Council to take all these applications into consideration at the same time. The core strategy states that the A12 and A14 are important commuication routes essential to the local economy and congestion at the Copdock Junction should not be exacerbated by any development in this area. Attention is drawn to the need for early consultation with the Highways Agency and warns against a piecemeal approach that would be damaging to a comprehensive plan gor the areas future.
Details of the application can be found on-line on the Babergh District Council web-site by clicking onto the planning application database on the planning pages. Enter Pinewood in search tab and look for the following applications:-
B/14/1375: B/14/1376: B/14/1377 - Belstead House and Associated Applications
B/15/00124 - Aldi Application
You can make comments to these applications if you wish on-line, alternatively you may write to Babergh District Council at:
Planning
Babergh District Council
Corks Lane
Hadleigh
Ipswich IP7 6SJ