Decision expected on 21-home development at Ipswich Sports Club

Published: 11:30 AM April 20, 2022 A proposal to build 21 new homes on the former hockey pitch at Ipswich Sports Club is on the agenda at next week’s planning and development committee.  Redevelopment plans were part of the sports club’s decision to sell off some of its Henley Road land, so as to create new facilities – including a new hockey pitch. 

Approval for 28 homes was originally given in September 2018, but this has since been reduced to 21, with three two-bed homes, 10 three-bed homes, six four-bed homes and two-five bed homes outlined in the planning application.  Residential car parking spaces will also be created, as will additional sports club parking spaces, and heat pumps and solar panels are likely to be installed so 15% of the site’s energy consumption can come from renewable sources.

An architect’s CGI impression of the front of the housing scheme – Credit: Hollins Architect Councillors will decide on April 27 whether or not to approve the development, which has received a handful of objections from nearby residents and consulted authorities. 

Ipswich Borough Council’s waste management department said it would like to get further information about how a refuse truck would manoeuvre at the end of the development for health and safety purposes, and Suffolk’s local flood authority asked for further clarification on the submitted flood risk report.  Representations from neighbours include concerns about privacy, increased traffic and congestion and changing the character of the area.  But the council’s design and conservation team called the design of each dwelling “distinctive” and said that revisions to the scheme to better define some spaces and make it more “gardenesque” were welcomed.

Required contributions towards primary, secondary and sixth form education, as well as library improvements and a new waste facility, have been outlined in a report presented to the committee. 

Developer Jeremy Goddard, director at Ipswich Covedale Developments Limited, and his partner Kevin Cattermole are both keen members of Ipswich Sports Club and said last year they wanted to “do right by Ipswich Sports Club”. 

Ipswich Hockey Club, which is part of the sports centre, opened its new all-weather pitch in Tuddenham Road last June.