Brightwell Lakes

Welcome to our website that explains how we are starting to bring forward a new, sustainable 2,000 home community at Brightwell Lakes following our purchase of the site in Martlesham, Suffolk. 

An outline planning permission was approved in 2018 by Suffolk Coastal District Council. 

The outline permission establishes the following principles as part of a mixed-use development:

• Development of the site for up to 2000 dwellings to be brought forward as individual phases
• Mixture of other uses on the site such as employment, local centres, school, green infrastructure, sports ground and play areas, allotments, heritage park and community orchards
• Access to the site from the A12, Ipswich Road and also connections to Gloster Road
• The need for walking and cycling links through the site and providing connections to other areas

The site will now be brought forward in phases. Each phase will be subject to what is called a Reserved Matters Application (RMA) that will be submitted to East Suffolk Council. The purpose of an RMA is to provide the details on matters such as design and layout, enabling the development to proceed.

 

The first phase of the masterplan will deliver 317 high-quality homes, public open spaces and allotments. We will also bring forward new infrastructure, including new roads, footways and cycle connections.

 

You can find out more about our proposals by downloading our consultation boards clicking here.

Taylor Wimpey is preparing to submit a Reserved Matters Application to East Suffolk Council in order to deliver Phase 1 of the Brightwell Lakes Masterplan.

The first phase of the masterplan will deliver 317 high-quality homes, public open spaces and allotments. We will also bring forward new infrastructure, including new roads, footways and cycle connections.

The Brightwell Lakes masterplan is about creating a healthy environment to live and work, set within plentiful green spaces, with new community facilities and infrastructure.

The development will provide the following:

Rather than a uniform design code there will be different character areas as you move through the development to create a sense of identity and natural wayfinding. The homes will be a maximum of three storeys in height, in keeping with the local building character of the surrounding area. Residential areas will include extensive landscaping, creating an attractive environment for residents.

In the first phase of the development, we are proposing to build 317 high-quality homes. This will include 195 homes on the A12 parcel and 122 homes on the Ipswich Road parcel. 

There will be a mix of dwellings providing a variety of sizes from 1-bed apartments to 5-bed houses across both parcels to meet every need.

The site is located to the east of the urban area of Ipswich and the nearby neighbourhoods of Martlesham Heath and Kesgrave. It also lies to the east of the A12 and directly adjacent to the BT Adastral Business Park. 

The site covers an area of approximately 113 hectares and comprises, in the main, a quarry for sand and gravel extraction and agricultural fields.

As part of the first phase of development, we will be bringing forward the vital infrastructure required to support the development.

We will ensure that the development is joined up to the existing road network, by building the accesses to the site along the A12 and Ipswich Road and creating links to the existing public rights of way.

We will also make sure that different areas of the development are well-connected, bringing forward walking and cycling links across the parcels to encourage movement by sustainable modes and connections to the central boulevard running through Brightwell Lakes.

The first community facilities will also be coming forward as part of this phase. We will provide a new area of open space within the development parcels and allotments on the A12 parcel.

As part of our ‘Building a Better World’ initiative, we are committed to creating a greener, healthier future for our customers, colleagues and communities with a series of new targets.

The strategy focuses on key environmental impacts for the business; climate change; nature; and resources and waste, with specific commitments to:

Increase nature on new developments
Achieve science-based carbon reduction target
Make it easier for customers to live a more sustainable lifestyle
This is reflected in our plans for Brightwell Lakes: a development which will consider its environmental impact. We will ensure that new homes are energy efficient and help to conserve water, with sustainable drainage features also included throughout the development.

Through our partnerships with Buglife and Hedgehog Street, we aim to enhance biodiversity and create opportunities for residents to engage with nature. Specific measures will include hedgehog highways, bug hotels, bat boxes, bird boxes, bee bricks and wildlife ponds.

We want to ensure that the local community is kept up to date on our progress as we look to bring forward the development at Brightwell lakes. 

Here you will find the latest news and updates about upcoming engagement events and the planning application. You can also register for updates on our home page. 

As part of our engagement with the local community, we hosted a public webinar on Wednesday 7th July from 18.00-19.00. If you were unable to attend, a recording of the webinar can be found here.