Plans approved for 128 homes on former Manganese Bronze factory site off Hadleigh Road, Ipswich

Arclion House site (between Elton Park and Lavenham Road) off Hadleigh Road in Ipswich,where plans have been submitted for a 128-home development and care home. Sarah Lucy brown

Plans to regenerate a derelict former industrial site off Hadleigh Road in Ipswich with more than 120 homes have been given the green light.

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Arclion House site (between Elton Park and Lavenham Road) off Hadleigh Road in Ipswich,where plans have been submitted for a 128-home development and care home. Arclion House site (between Elton Park and Lavenham Road) off Hadleigh Road in Ipswich,where plans have been submitted for a 128-home development and care home.

Outline planning permission was submitted in January to create 128 homes and a 60 bed care home on the brownfield site of the former Arclion House and Elton Park Works.

At Ipswich Borough Council’s planning and development committee meeting yesterday, outline planning permission was approved.

David Harris, chief executive of Bury St Edmunds-based applicants M&D Developments, previously said: “The industrial units have passed through their lifespan and this is creating residential homes on a good site.”

The firm’s application added: “The proposed residential development seeks to redevelop a brownfield site which is currently vacant and in a poor state.

“Our proposal enhances the character of the local area with a high quality sustainable residential development and provides much needed two and three-bedroom dwellings for the local area.”

M&D acquired the land – which was last used in 2008 when the Manganese Bronze factory works was there – in 2016, and said if plans were approved it would hope to start work on the site this year, although no indication of a date has been given.

A public consultation was held in October by agents Urbanissta to gather feedback, with indications from the responses largely in favour of the site being occupied by housing.

The news comes in the same week that a new housing strategy for the next five years put together by the borough council revealed that Ipswich needed 10,000 new homes in the 20 years from 2011.

Alongside the homes, contributions towards local infrastructure are set to be made, including £55,200 for health services, £500,256 for both primary and secondary school provision, £60,910 for a pre-school and £137,768 for open space.

The borough council’s report ahead of the decision said: “The proposed scheme would result in the principle of residential development being approved for this long-standing brownfield site, which in turn would assist in meeting the need for housing within Ipswich Borough and Babergh District.”