A residents action group has sent an open letter to key Felixstowe politicians challenging them about the impact of increased development on the Colneis peninsula.

The Kirton and Trimley Community Action Group (KATCAG) have asked East Suffolk district councillors Richard Kerry and Mick Richardson; Suffolk county councillor Stuart Bird and Felixstowe MP Therese Coffey, what they consider to be 10 key questions regarding planning applications.

The letter reads

[I]'Dear Dr Coffey, County Councillor Bird and District Councillors Kerry and Richardson TEN CHALLENGING QUESTIONS You have supported or remained silent regarding the building of 4,000 new houses on food producing farmland on the Colneis Peninsula. Their residents will increase the population by approximately one third! On behalf of existing and future residents, KATCAG would like you to set party politics aside, think carefully, and answer the following TEN CHALLENGING QUESTIONS. With Climate Change and increasing international competition for scarce food supplies the need to secure our own means of food production is becoming far more important. Current events in the Ukraine, which produced 33 million tons of grain last year, brings this strategic need into sharp focus! QUESTION ONE: If Grade 1 and 2 food producing farmland on the Peninsula is replaced by houses, how and where will this farmland be replaced? Post-Covid, more people are working from home and although the economy appears to be recovering this is not generating large numbers of new jobs on the Peninsula, if any. QUESTION TWO: If 4,000 houses are built on the Peninsula, where and how will the jobs be created to support their residents? If, as is likely, large numbers of jobs are not created, people in these new houses will have to commute elsewhere to their places of employment. As a result of Climate Change there will be more frequent closures of the Orwell Bridge and with increased traffic and resultant accidents, blockages around Felixstowe and the Trimley Villages will become more common. QUESTION THREE: How will the A14 and High Road cope with the extra traffic? QUESTION FOUR: When road blockages occur, similar to those we have suffered recently, how will emergency vehicles be able to operate safely and successfully? QUESTION FIVE: If emergency vehicles can not operate properly, do you agree that lives will be lost as a result? QUESTION SIX: By promoting this large-scale housebuilding or remaining silent, are you happy to have on your conscience the inevitable extra losses of life that will arise due to emergency vehicles not being able to operate successfully? The population of the Peninsula has remained almost static since the 2001 Census, but the service provided by local medical practices has deteriorated significantly, even taking account of Covid. This is through no fault of the dedicated staff, but because of a nationwide shortage of doctors, estimated by the British Medical Association to be in excess of 50,000!. Our medical practices already rely on locums to help them operate at less than satisfactory levels. In addition, highly qualified doctors are retiring early because of work-related stress. According to the British Medical Journal these numbers have more than trebled over the last 13 years. QUESTION SEVEN: These new houses will mean around 10,000 new people, so where will the doctors come from to treat them - and current residents - properly? Note: For simplicity we have ignored the similar needs for dentists, schools and social services. QUESTION EIGHT: If treatment levels deteriorate even further because there are not enough doctors, do you accept that lives will inevitably be lost as a result? QUESTION NINE: Are you also happy to have on your conscience the inevitable extra losses of life that will arise due to a shortage of doctors? QUESTION TEN: As decision-makers and influencers do you have a right to risk the extra loss of life that will apply to your family, friends, neighbours and complete strangers? You were elected to represent the best interests of current and future residents of the Colneis Peninsula, not your own self-interests or those of the political party you represent. Our TEN CHALLENGING QUESTIONS, therefore, have nothing to do with party politics.

In order to promote openness and transparency this e-mail will be copied to interested parties, including Parish Councils and the local media. Our TEN CHALLENGING QUESTIONS and your answers will also be posted on local social media sites.

On behalf of the residents of the Colneis Peninsula, we look forward to a prompt and full responses from each of you. We accept that you are all very busy people, and will take the liberty of regularly reminding you if you forget to reply promptly.

Yours sincerely

The KATCAG Team'[I]

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