Sudbury café and toilet facility plans unveiled as part of strategy to improve Belle Vue Park

Fresh plans to help bring Sudbury’s town centre park into the 21st century – including new facilities to replace the decaying toilet block – have been revealed.

Babergh District Council’s leaders will vote next week on funding for a proposed community café and public toilets, as part of a wider investment into improving Belle Vue Park.

Subject to receiving the necessary financial and planning consents, it is hoped that the new café and toilets could be in place by spring 2024.

Separately, Babergh District Council confirmed it is working with Sudbury Town Council to develop plans for a new entrance to Belle Vue Park.

As part of its broader strategy for improving the park, the district council is also exploring the potential additions of electric vehicle (EV) and bicycle charging points, biodiversity planting, new play equipment, and other features.

In the report to Babergh District Council’s cabinet, Cllr Derek Davis explained that the existing toilet block at Belle Vue Park had fallen into “poor condition” and had been “regularly damaged through instances of vandalism.”

He indicated that the council had begun producing proposals for a new café and toilets, before rising projected construction costs led to this idea being paused in late 2022.

Options for a less expensive and more efficient modular build were then explored, leading to the current plans – which Cllr Davis stated they would deliver multiple benefits to the public, and help the overall improvements to the park.

“Provision of improved toilet facilities and a new café at Belle Vue Park have been fed back by the public as being a higher priority for the park area for a number of years, including through a public exhibition and engagement period undertaken during late 2021,” the report reads.

“Whilst not a purely commercially driven investment – due to the considerable wider benefits to the park and town – the council will retain ownership of the café and derive an income stream from occupier licence, lease or profit share arrangements in due course.

“This will recoup the initial investment over an extended period of time.

“The existing toilet block is regularly vandalised at cost to the council. The new facility will be more secure and monitored.”

The report adds that the café would adopt an environmentally-friendly design, including the provision of solar panels, air source heat pumps and sustainable fittings.

Pending funding approval on Tuesday afternoon, a formal planning application for the project is anticipated later this year.

Meanwhile, a separate application to restore Belle Vue House – which has also fallen into a dilapidated condition – is awaiting consideration from Babergh District Council’s planning committee.

A key portion of the funding for the proposed café and toilets would depend on the outcome of this application, after McCabe and Abel agreed to buy the site back in May, with the intention of re-purposing it for private housing.

Last year, Babergh District Council had reached a sale agreement with Churchill Retirement Living, for both Belle Vue House and adjoining parkland previously used as a swimming pool – hoping to use the proceeds to help pay for a new park entrance.

However, this arrangement collapsed, after Babergh District Council’s planning committee later rejected Churchill’s bid to build a retirement living complex on the former swimming pool land, amid significant public outcry.

Subsequently, Belle Vue House alone was placed back on the market earlier this year, while alternative options for the old pool site are still being considered.

Fresh plans for the new park entrance are also in the works, the district council confirmed last Friday.

The Babergh cabinet meeting to discuss the latest Belle Vue proposals will begin at Endeavour House in Ipswich on Tuesday, from 4pm.