ipswich.gov.uk

Comment

Representation ID: 24908

Received: 27/10/2017

Respondent: Historic England

The town centres in Ipswich and Suffolk Coastal are historic and contain significant concentrations of designated heritage assets. Retailing is changing and that has an impact on the buildings housing them, many of them historic. Each centre is different but consideration needs to be made of whether town centres are sustainable as currently constituted, the usages for buildings are correctly identified and they are adequately protected from harmful change of use or conversion. A planned approach to reinforcing the importance of the town centres as a sustainable location, and consideration of appropriate, alternative or additional uses which will provide a strong future for the buildings, is key. A further consideration is the retention of original/historic or significant shopfronts. A development management policy should be in place to manage their change successfully.