Plans to turn a sheltered housing development into 24 flats have been approved with a restriction on parking permits in a bid to tackle parking concerns.
The proposal referred to the 1964-built complex in Hanover Court, in Lacey Street, and included converting 23 sheltered housing units into 24 flats.
The plans also include refurbishing the building with a new canopy, new windows, doors, and section of external render.
The works would not require the demolition of buildings but only the conversion of existing flats.
Nearby residents have previously raised their worry about the parking chaos on Lacey Street, as the new inhabitants of 24 flats would share only five parking spaces on the site.
Ipswich Borough Council approved the application on Wednesday, May 31 but included an additional condition to the application, which states that no resident of Hanover Court should be entitled to purchase a parking permit in Lacey Street.
This means that the new residents will have to park away from the road.
Councillor Colin Kreidewolf said: "We recognise the concerns of local residents and imposed an additional condition restricting access to parking permits in Lacey Street."
Graham Howes, who lives near Hanover Court in Lacey Street, said that the residents were never against the housing proposal and they were only worried about the parking situation in their neighbourhood.
They are now happy with the decision made by the council and hope that future residents will not abuse the recent decision.
Mr Howes added: “Our worry was that the development would only supply five parking places with the naive idea that people wouldn’t need a car and would probably use bikes or walk.
“If it was 24 houses or flats each would need some parking provision. Similar developments cited by the planners actually all had proper parking provision.
“The street parking is already a challenge as there are also cars from other roads that don’t have parking using our road and simply too many permits sold.”
Councillor Adam Rae said: "At today’s planning committee we carried out a long and detailed discussion about the Hannover Court application.
"The main issue discussed was any increased parking in Lacey Street resulting from the application.
"In order to address concerns from existing residents we decided to impose a condition that occupants of the development of the new flats would not be eligible for permits within the existing Lacey Street residents parking scheme."
The councillor added that apart from the parking issue, the addition of 24 new flats to Ipswich’s housing stock was warmly welcomed by the committee.
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