New look for Driving Test Centre site

Many Ipswich drivers will remember taking their test from a site on the Woodbridge Road. Now that the driving test centre has moved to a more accessible site, its old home at Woodbridge Road is to be developed for housing.

In 2006 the Driving Standards Agency relocated their Ipswich Test Centre to a new site at Ransomes Europark, into a new building which was the prototype for Driving Test Centres across the country. Since then the town centre site in Woodbridge Road has lain empty. It is allocated for housing use to meet Ipswich Borough Council’s plan to locate 60% of new homes in Ipswich on brownfield or previously developed sites.

Planning consent has now been granted to Barkley Homes for a residential development designed by the architects for the innovative new Test Centre, Ipswich firm Barefoot and Gilles.

The scheme of 29 houses and 19 flats is arranged in two, three and four storey blocks, 25% of which are for affordable housing. Following successful negotiations with Ipswich Borough Council, the site was approved with a relatively high density of 74 units per Ha. The neighbouring BT Depot is also earmarked for residential use in the Local Development Framework, and will be accessed from the same access road. The approved scheme satisfies these requirements whilst providing the opportunity for many more new homes.

The requirement to locate 60% of development on brownfield or ‘previously developed’ land is a requirement of the East of England Plan, published in April 2008.