Hobbycraft set to open new store at Tollgate in Stanway

Hobbycraft has applied for planning permission to install signs, air conditioning units and bi-parting automatic doors at a unit in Tollgate Road, Stanway.

The new store is expected to create five full-time and ten part-time jobs once it opens over the coming months.

Hobbycraft sells haberdashery and crafting supplies both online and from 94 shops across the UK, the nearest of which is currently Ipswich.

The site itself was home to the town's iconic Seapets store, which closed suddenly in 2016.

The following year Tollgate Partnership, which owns the area, received planning permission to demolish the old premises and build a new shop on site.

However the development didn't come about without controversy and some residents complained the new building was out of keeping with the area.

Some residents have submitted objections to the signage plans, concerned the illuminated signs would ruin the outlook from their properties.

One said: "Whilst I do not object to the signage proposed in its entirety, I do object to the illumination of the signage facing the store's car park, on the building's south elevation.

"The signage on the south elevation will illuminate the side and rear elevations of the cluster of residential properties located directly to the south, including my own.

"The outlook from these properties at night will also be of illuminated signage, which will impact negatively on our amenity and the unnecessary lighting will be intrusive.

"It is also fair to say the illumination of the glazed entrance feature and the illumination of the proposed signage on the street elevation, which is substantial, would prove to be perfectly adequate to give the store the visibility it requires at night."

Hobbycraft is understood to have been asked by the landowners to change the proposals to non-illuminated signs on the south side of the site.

The firm did not respond to The Gazette's requests for comment.