Massive 330 job boost for waterfront

Is it absolutely neccesary to have yet another major supermarket condemining what little is left of any independant life of retailing in Ipswich?..The town centre is a very drab environment as it is with row upon row of national chain stores and a very small and diminishing independant retail trade ..There is little individuality about shopping in Ipswich. You could be in any town or city in the country..It is all very well boasting about new shops & restaurants, but who locally will take these up with the exhorbitant business rates that the local council hand out. National chains will take the prestigeous sites as they are the only ones that can afford the upkeep. As for an extra 200 flats and maisonettes..well how many in and around this development are are still lying empty at the moment?

THATS 200 MORE FLATS FOR THE COUNCIL TO PUT THEIR TENANTS ??

I support the new proposal for Duke Street wholeheartedly, the site is an eyesore at the moment. A few more flats won't hurt anyone.

Oh good! More flats. They'll stay empty, just like the others recently built.

Just what we need 200 more flats with a vehicle each ( while probably parking for only 20 vehicles). I'm sure it will all be passed though, all that extra council tax for IBC & SCC.

Like the idea of restaurants, a spa, parking and weekly markets/fairs etc... but why do we need 200 more flats ? Building dwellings that won't sell and end up as pseudo council flats is madness, and you can bet your bottom dollar that no bolstering of the transport links will have been thought of

Doe`s this means that Heath rd will have all the facilities for this influx of bodies IE heart attack treatment,cancer, cystic fibrosis and many others

Cockermouth is flooded and in the news right now. Every few years somewhere is destroyed by flooding and usually it is flooding caused by rainfall and not flooding caused by tides. Our town is being destroyed by over development, much of which is on the Ipswich floodplain. To propose another development on the floodplain is outrageous. Residential buildings already have to be built on the second or even third floor because it is recognised they are in danger of being flooded. This is only part of the problem. More people living and discharging into a floodplain means the danger to the rest of us is increased as the land is concreted over and the rain runs off it instead of soaking into it. Build on the Northern Fringe and the floodplain is in even more danger. We cannot use Duke Street or any of the dockside when it is flooded Star Lane,College Street and Key Street will also be unusable and we will all be paying for the clean up. It is crazy to even think of more building on the floodplain. turtill@gmail.com

I live on the Waterfront and have seen it go under a lot of change. I like the idea of all thats been proposed as long as they don't look like those awful Modus apartments which are half full, and these new flats don't go to the council, and the shop units actually get used and not bordered up with bits of scrap wood! Also im keen not to see what has happened at the very poorly built Cranfield Mill who seem to have just abandoned the developement half way through and left empty building shells and eye-sores which were supposed to be developed - am i the only one who has noticed? And the Regatta Quay skeleton which has been left until the recession picks up - although that makes sense it would be good just to see a skin on the building and get that area full with shops and more importantly getting money in!!

Seriously....... More flats? Really? Why????

The local yob wheel clampers will thrive

Looks great, just been on ibc site and looked at design very impressed. And will people stop banging on about the 'empty' flats recession = no mortgages, stagnated market blah blah.. it will improve and they will be lived in! Not just by 'council' as everyone always says. They've actually turned down several proposals on this site to get it up to this standard and good job too, its a great design with loads of facilities... and Dwayne if u read properly 300 + parking spaces.

Let's just rename Ipswich, Tesco Town... haven't they got enough stores already...

Anon Anon (why no real name?, why be afraid to voice your opinion?..) has a good point in saying " and you can bet your bottom dollar that no bolstering of the transport links will have been thought of"..The whole infrastructure for transport around the Waterfront and surrounding areas is a disgrace..Travelling from Felixstowe Rd onto Bishops Hill and the Duke Street roundabout is a nightmare on most days.The ridiculous one way system in place at present just cannot take the extra capacity of transport flowing through it, and now it is planned to reduce the two way one way system to one lane and introduce street furniture and extra paving....WHAT!!!..How shortsighted this council is at times..Why is the bigger picture never looked at, and why is this town being strangled by gridlock..Stop banging on about our wonderful Waterfront complex, (and I agree on paper it is a great development), and come into the real world and look at the knock on effect of ridiculous planning decisions by people who actually dont either live in the areas that are being smothered or never have to commute in and out of town through that area..

Most of these replies hit the nail on the head..........that the small trader has no chance. So much for fair trading powers and enterprise. Its all about money...revenue....and no thought for anything else . I feel sorry for the future generation...and i,m glad i won,t be about when all this thoughtless planning results in future misery.

I would really like to understand the current obsession that IBC has with building more and more flats - without adding any transport infrastructure to support them. Currently the area around Duke St roundabout is plagued with daily congestion due to poor road layout and far too many crossings backing traffic up onto the roundabout. Adding more flats and houses in this area will just compound the problem. Also I really can't see how this shopping area is supposed to compliment the main shopping in the town centre. Feels like the only people benefiting here are the property developers - it certainly isn't the locals.

There is absolutely no need for any more flats, shops, restaurants or office space to be built on the waterfront! A vast number of the ones already there sit empty most of the time. Only a couple of the retail units built have been occupied and one of them has even closed down already. On top of that, the council already has plans to majorly change the roundabout junction at the end of Duke Street to supposedly reduce congestion in that area, yet they are approving the building of more flats which will mean more cars. A better use of the site would be a multistory car park to replace Crown Street with a free shuttle bus from there to the town center.

Looking at the comments, it looks like the vast majority really are opposed to these plans. Surely it would at least show respect to the locals for Liz Harsant to open this up for a fair debate (not just steamroller these plans through - so the local community ends up suffering for years). I have a radical couple of ideas: spend more time and effort consulting with locals and business leaders to examine the catastrophic state of the waterfront road layout with the aim of removing the bottlenecks (and at the same time improving the air quality) get more diversity in our shops - a recent visit to Norwich highlighted the paucity of Ipswich's "shopping experience". Why not aim to get at least Waitrose or John Lewis into the town (not yet another Tesco) whatever happened to parks and green spaces - Holywells and Christchurch parks would never have existed under this council with the demise of Crown car park, we could do with a couple of large (500+ space car parks) It really feels like IBC are letting us down