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"The whole of the focus on winter sport will be here in Ipswich and, apart from creating jobs, we shall be giving something like £80m a year into the local economy."

Those were the words of Godfrey Spanner from the developers Onslow as the announcement was made that one of the UK's biggest ever leisure projects will go ahead.

However, many local residents say it'll be the proverbial blot on the landscape.

The £350m SnOasis development at the old Blue Circle cement works in Great Blakenham has divided opinion in the county and led to a public inquiry which opened in Ipswich in January 2007 and lasted until May 2007.

Its task was to look at the transport and environmental implications of the site as well as the economic benefits under the auspices of planning inspector John Gray.

The news of the government's final decision was announced on Thursday 6 November 2008. BBC Suffok's reporters were on site when the news came through.

Godfrey Spanner said he's feeling great: "It's been a long journey - particularly the last 18 months since the public inquiry.

Great Blakenham quarry

"It's a major investment at any time. I've been through four of these [credit] crunches. This is international and is probably going to last longer than 18 months.

"By the time we start work I think the confidence will have returned. People will still be seeking jobs and we can give them those jobs.

"Because of the current climate it's the right time to negotiate a contract figure because it's going to be cheaper."

Onslow estimate that 3,500 jobs will be created during construction and around 1,800 jobs afterwards at the complex.

Planning history

On 8 May 2008, the government's Communities & Local Government announced the result of the planning inquiry. They granted approval for a new railway station with 500 car-parking spaces at Great Blakenham and approved the residential development of 500 homes, but the decision on the actual indoor ski slope was been put on hold until the November announcement.

The government said it needed more information on the carbon footprint that will be generated by the energy needs of creating an artificial snow slope. More environmental submissions were needed and that's what held up the final planning decision.

The developers Onslow said the extra submissions to government cost them £600,000.

Godfrey Spanner is optimistic they can win local opponents over: "I think when it's there, people will have forgotten the arguments against it.

"There have been five leaders of the opposition group. There have never been more than 200 supporters of them and, as far as we're concerned, the rest of the community are behind it."

Mr Spanner said that if the decision had gone against the ski centre, the former quarry site would have been turned over to incineration and landfill.

The background

The developers believe it will bring a "landmark tourist attraction" to the county and that it will "enhance the environment by utilising an unused, ugly brown field site".  Mr  Spanner said: "It would be foolish for Suffolk not to take advantage of this opportunity." 

Local residents are not so sure, saying on the SnOasis Concern website that the distinctive design will "blight the local skyline" and bring chaos to the already busy A12/A14 access roads. There have also been environmental and wildlife concerns.

Developers will have to make provisions for newt colonies on the site which they won't be able to complete before spring 2009. After that the SnOasis would take at least 30 months to build.

No snow, thank you

Snoasis Concern is a website which was set-up by opponents of the project. John Williams is from the Snoasis Community Alliance: "I'm not surprised with the decision, but I'm disappointed.

"It is an environmental issue. This is the largest refrigerator in Europe. It's about whether we believe in climate change or we do not believe in climate change.

"We started from the position of the amount of traffic that would be created by this. It's quite clear that this site will not stand as a business on the kind of numbers - 800,000 a year - they were claiming.

British ski star Chemmy Alcott

"This will not work on these figure. Therefore we're looking a between one and a half and three million visitors a year and we have not got the roads to take it.

"The kind of jobs that are being offered here are low-skilled jobs - cleaners for chalets etc. The leisure industry is a low-pay industry.

"The A14 is supposed to be a hi-tech corridor and we're being offered low-skill/no-skill jobs."

No Olympics boost

The lengthy planning process means that the facilities won't be ready for the London Olympics in 2012, although they expect it to be completed some time that year. Winter sports obviously don't feature at the summer games, but it was suggested Snoasis could provide a residential and training base for athletes.

Godfrey Spanner is disappointed: "It's a big blow for the sporting world because we were on the list to host visiting nations within our campus.

"With a very short train journey from our new station into Stratford [the Olympic site in east London], it was ideal, but the delay has stopped that."

For the background to this story and dozens of archive Have Your Say views, click on the previous BBC Suffolk articles on the right hand side >>>