MARTLESHAM COUNCIL

Runway Heritage Carpark

Martlesham Council is delighted to have finally acquired the new ‘Runway Heritage’ public carpark at the Square, Martlesham Heath.

Councillors and staff have worked tirelessly with the developers McCarthy Stone, the planning team at East Suffolk Council and MHHL over a period of several years to secure the carpark for our parish and ensure the best possible design features within the limitations of the planning permission.

The Runway Heritage Carpark has a total of 39 free carparking spaces to include two accessible parking bays for Blue Badge holders. The carpark will provide short term parking for community use and for those wishing to visit the shops, surgery, and other facilities in the Square as well as the Village Green, Pub and Church.  There will be no overnight parking to protect the residential amenity of nearby properties and to ensure that the spaces are readily available to all who wish to use them.

The diagonal lines running across the carpark were proposed by planners from East Suffolk Council and represent part of ‘Runway 30’ on which the carpark was built. Runway 30 ran east to west from what is now Adastral Park to Dobbs Lane. It was one of two tarmac runways constructed prior to the arrival of the USAAF and completed in 1943.

Spaces 1 and 2 are serviced by an electric vehicle charging point to be supplied by pod point. Spaces 3-7 have ducting laid in place should further EV points be required in the future. There is a Regal cycle shelter for the convenience of cyclists.

An interesting and innovative design feature of the carpark is the hydro planters which surround the perimeter. These were a requirement of the Suffolk County Council LLFA (Lead Local Flood Authority).

A hydro planter is a type of stormwater management solution that can be retrofitted into development schemes, a type of ‘plug and play’ sustainable urban drainage solution (SUD) that can attenuate and cleanse storm water and provide amenity and biodiversity to new spaces. Each module is filled with a particular soil specification and planted with wildflowers and biodiverse grasses. The modules are made of 100% recycled material.

Please ensure that you are not tempted to step over the wooden knee rails which protect these planters as they will be difficult and costly to replace if damaged.

For convenience, there are gaps in the knee rails for pedestrians near to the Village Green and the accessible parking bays. A change in hard surface material denotes areas where pedestrians can cross at the carpark entrance and the bell mouth junction with Eagle Way. The carpark benefits from a feature low-level LED lantern lighting system in the evenings.

Forthcoming meetings

Parish Council meeting – Wednesday 3^rd July

Recreation & Amenities Committee meeting – Wednesday 10^th July

There is no Parish Council meeting in August.

For more information visit our website

website: www.martleshamparishcouncil.org.uk