A FOOD giant, who has submitted fresh plans to relocate its warehouse operations to an Essex village, has reassured residents traffic will not be impacted as a result of the move.

Surya Foods is looking to transfer its warehousing operations from Harwich to a new site in Ipswich Road, Ardleigh which will have “the capacity to handle nine lorries unloading or loading at any one time”.

If approved, the site will benefit from a warehouse, distribution centre and a goods yard, together with more than 200 parking spaces.

But the plans were met with backlash from some Ardleigh residents who insist the village does not have the infrastructure needed to support this development.

Robert and Jennifer Barnett said:“The lanes and surrounding minor roads will become rat runs for traffic using this proposed development once short cuts get to be known by those who can save travel time to and from their destinations.”

Justin Truckell added: "The route to the A12 is totally wrong. It is a back road and not designed for constant use for HGVs."

A spokesman for Flying Trade has said they "understand the concerns" and "have taken measures to ensure that this site has no impact to the local community or environment".

They added:"We have worked extensively with Highways England and Essex County Council who have insisted all HGV traffic must be directed along the Old Ipswich Road directly to the A12 trunk road.

"This avoids the local road network and has also resulted in upgrade works to the Ipswich Road roundabout which forms part of the application and will be funded by Surya Foods.

"We have undertaken and submitted a Landscape Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) which clearly demonstrates the minimal impact this will have as a whole and actually has no impact at all on the AONB (The Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).

"Our company holistic objective is to reduce the negative impact on our planet and we have worked closely with specialists to see how we can best achieve this. Our proposal will reduce the transport miles of the business by over 700,000 per annum which offers a saving of over 900 tonnes of carbon annually.

"With fewer lorry movements on the roads, we believe that this is a positive step to a greener planet.

"By relocating the warehouse storage elements of the business, this then allows the existing facility at Harwich to continue to expand their manufacturing arm of the business which will create additional jobs.

"This proposal will create 348 new jobs in total and adds a further 283 jobs in the wider community.

"The proprietors are a local family who reinvest back into their local community throughout both the Colchester and Tendring boroughs."