Why it matters: The Ipswich Oasis project was promised as an exciting and truly transformational project that would create a 5km green trail linking the town centre to the waterfront, making "Ipswich a more attractive destination," while "encouraging people to engage in healthy, outdoor and communal activities," "creating a vibrant and inclusive atmosphere," and delivering significant socio-economic benefits.
What's being delivered is markedly different.
What was promised: The original Towns Fund application pledged a green corridor featuring plenty of trees, permanent planters with integrated seating, living walls, and an "active mile" featuring exercise equipment, and potentially even a basketball court. Business grants were pledged to enhance outside environments, with the landmark living wall acting as a crown jewel in Ipswich's greening efforts.
What's been delivered so far: Four years later, and a total of £278,706 has been spent on seasonal hanging baskets around the town centre, temporary concrete planters and benches near the Cardinal Wolsey statue, and designs and surveys for sporadic and "small-scale" greening projects on four streets between the town centre and waterfront.
What's going to be delivered: The remaining works have been scaled back to what now amounts to one tree and a number of raised beds with integrated seating scattered across four streets, which will be delivered by next spring. This includes:
Two areas of raised planters on Princes Street
One tree and raised planters on Queen Street
Two raised planters and three integrated benches on St Nicholas Street
Three permanent planters and new permanent benches on Wolsey Square
What went wrong: Underground surveys revealed significant obstacles that forced multiple design changes.
On Princes Street, trial trenches uncovered utilities within dense concrete foundations from former tram tracks, making tree planting cost-prohibitive.
On St Nicholas Street, four proposed trees were scrapped entirely after utility discoveries.
Plans for St Peter's Street were scrapped altogether following pushback from businesses over the loss of street parking.
The council said that "understanding and limiting underground constraints is critical to the success of this project."
"It is possible, having identified the existence of underground apparatus, for that apparatus to be diverted away from the project area. However, utility diversion is a complex and costly undertaking that the limited budget of the project would not allow for."
What's next: The council expects to finalise delivery plans by the end of September, with construction completing by spring 2026. A contractor appointment is at "an advanced stage" after the preferred delivery partnership with Suffolk County Council was abandoned due to scheduling conflicts.
For context: The Ipswich Oasis project formed £600,000 of the £25 million Towns Fund grant from central government to regenerate our town, with the council committing a further £300,000 from its reserves to bring the total up to £900,000.
The bottom line: Significantly reduced from its original ambition, the project now aims to create "small-scale greening projects" that the council says will provide seating, improve wellbeing, and increase footfall in the town centre – just not the transformational green corridor and "trailblazing model of excellence" it set out to deliver.
Ipswich Oasis: Four years, £279,000, and all we got were these lousy hanging baskets and temporary planters
For just under £280,000, Ipswich Borough Council has delivered what may be the most expensive collection of hanging baskets and planters in the country. In four years, the "trailblazing model of excellence" that was supposed to transform our town centre into a green oasis has so far managed to produce some seasonal hanging baskets, temporary planters, and a masterclass in turning grand ambition into underwhelming reality.
