Planners have given the green light to a new Bury St Edmunds relief road to be built as part of a major new housing development on the edge of town.
Denbury Homes has been granted full planning permission to build infrastructure for the Abbots Vale northern neighbourhood, including a spine road, vehicular access to residential areas, urban drainage, flood compensation, landscaping and associated works on land south of Rougham Hill.
The overall Abbots Vale development – Denbury is to build its ‘northern neighbourhood’ – will include 1,250 homes when it is finished.
The entire relief road would start from the Rougham Hill roundabout and travel south, cutting across Rushbrooke Lane and linking to Sicklesmere Road, the A134, by a new roundabout.
A planning officer report said: “At peak times the corridor from junction 44 of the A14 to Southgate Green roundabout suffers from congestion. The relief road that would serve this residential allocation has been identified as a method of helping to reduce or at least manage congestion along this corridor.
“Currently, 40 per cent of the traffic travelling to Southgate Green roundabout from the A14 heads towards Sudbury down the A134. Currently the traffic traveling from junction 44 to the Southgate Green roundabout has to go from two lanes to one and that bottle-neck has been identified as a major factor in traffic backing up to the A14 junction and queuing onto Bedingfeld Way.
“This relief road has been identified as another route for traffic to use when traveling to Sudbury and it is hoped that it will have a positive impact on managing congestion in the area.”
This reserved matters application relates to the northern section of the relief road to just north of the River Lark.
A separate planning application has been submitted for a bridge section of the relief road, while a further application has been made for the remainder of the road and residential development.
Outline permission for up to 1,250 homes, a local centre, community facilities, a primary school and relief road was granted in March 2020.
Hopkins Homes is to develop Abbots Vale’s southern neighbourhood.