I fully support this as it appears to suggest a priority to develop brownfield sites in the town centre for housing. However, isn't this at odds with the stance in answer to FAQ 6 in the Ipswich Garden Suburb SPD Frequently Asked Questions document? This suggests the council will not be concentrating on developing brownfield sites before building on the arable fields of the 'northern fringe' which would be very disappointing as if as many of the empty buildings and plots of derelict land around central Ipswich were turned into housing this would give a big boost to rejuvenating and reshaping the town centre (from east/west layout to north/waterfront). It would help with transport issues as people would be living close to their work, shopping and leisure pursuits and it also delays building over a large area of crop producing land with food security becoming more of a concern with the huge number of planning applications being made for farm land and vast swathes potentially at risk from flooding amongst other things. The reasons given of technical constraints and viability in the FAQ answer suggest the council would be happy to opt to make things easy for developers and landowners to profit at the northern fringe at the cost of the town centre.

See attached.