PUBLIC consultation into a number of proposed major developments in Beccles over the next 20 years has begun.Waveney District Council's blueprint for the area, part of the local development framework, outlines plans for the town, alongside Bungay, Halesworth, Southwold, Reydon and Lowestoft.

PUBLIC consultation into a number of proposed major developments in Beccles over the next 20 years has begun.

Waveney District Council's blueprint for the area, part of the local development framework, outlines plans for the town, alongside Bungay, Halesworth, Southwold, Reydon and Lowestoft.

Plans for Beccles include creating extra industrial land at Ellough Airfield for expansion to existing businesses or for new investment and 28 houses and a community information centre, run by the public and voluntary services, on land off Gresham Road.

Fifteen affordable homes and allotments are also tabled for land off Cucumber Lane and Oak Lane, along with allotments on land south of Nicholson Drive.

An exhibition where members of the public can view the plans will be held at Beccles Library, in Blyburgate, today from 4-7pm, and planning policy officers will be on hand to answer any questions.

Beccles town councillor Alan Thwaites said the council would be discussing the proposals in detail at a meeting on Tuesday, April 6.

He spoke of his initial concern about the proposed housing development off Cucumber Lane, which is in fact a greenfield site. “I think we do need to preserve a greenfield buffer,” he said.

He added that any developments should be in keeping with the character of the area, citing the proposed housing and community information centre off Gresham Road. “We do need to preserve the fabric of the town, it's a fine balance,” he said.

In Bungay, proposals include housing and industrial land at St John's Road; housing in Lower and Upper Olland Street; a community centre at Old Grammar Lane; allotments near Wingfield Street and an extension of Bungay cemetery.

In Halesworth, the plans outline industrial land near Broadway Drive and Broadway Farm, and housing at Dairy Hill playing fields and Dairy Farm.

Other plans throughout the district include building a primary school in Oulton, Lowestoft, and opening a healthy living centre in Reydon - a project recently given the go-ahead by planners.

Housing is earmarked at 12 sites in Waveney in a bid to meet a minimum requirement of providing nearly 7,000 homes in the area by 2025.

In December 2006, the council started the consultation process on preferred sites for development across Waveney, and the sites that

go forward from the final draft will be examined independently before being adopted in February 2011.

Any comments or objections to the development plan document must be submitted before Friday, April 9.

If you are unable to attend the exhibition, material is available online at www.waveney.gov.uk/LDF. To respond, go to www.consult.waveney.gov.uk. For further information email planningpolicy@waveney.gov.uk or telephone 01502 523029/523068.