In 2006 Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council
jointly commissioned consultant Colin Buchanan to assess
options, in terms of urban design and accessibility, to address the
severance between Ipswich town centre, the developing education
quarter and the waterfront.
The consultant has suggested the best way to achieve this aim is
to rethink the function of these streets. At present they operate
simply as a corridor for moving traffic from one side of the town
centre to the other, which presents a barrier to pedestrians,
discourages cycling and creates a very poor environment, with air
quality that falls below acceptable levels.
The traffic domination of these streets also tends to work
against development that can help connect the waterfront and town
centre. This in turn means that future opportunities to create what
the consultants would term 'a town on the waterfront', would be
lost.
The consultants are proposing that, in tandem with the ongoing
change and regeneration projects on the waterfront providing high
quality residential, employment, education and leisure
opportunities, the streetscape should also be changed. Their vision
for these streets is the development of public spaces that can
allow movement for all – along and across the roads, but can
also support social interaction and encourage active development
frontages such as shops and cafes. If this vision could be
realised the future of the waterfront area would not be
primarily as an area of residential development separated from the
other areas of activity in Ipswich. In future the waterfront area
but would be far more strongly integrated with the rest of the
town.
Changing the nature of these roads in the way that the
consultants suggest, would mean that fewer vehicles would be able
to be accommodated, particularly at busy times. Some people would
view that as the most important consideration whilst others may
take a wider, longer term view. We welcome a wide discussion of
these issues, because they will help to shape the kind of place
that people want Ipswich to be in the future.
In thinking about the consultants’ ideas, and before coming to
any decisions, both councils will need to consider carefully
how to balance the advantages and disadvantages of this
proposal, both now, and into the future.
These proposals will also need to be seen in the light of the
work we are doing to update the Ipswich transport strategy and
the Borough Council’s work in preparing its Local Development
Framework for the period up to 2021.
Ipswich Waterfront Transport Study Report Part 1 Pages 1 - 32
(PDF, 10.4Mb)
Ipswich Waterfront Transport Study Report Part 2 Pages 33 -
29 (PDF, 9.16Mb)
Ipswich Waterfront Transport Study Appendices (PDF,
310Kb)