Proposals to replace aging and vandal-prone toilets at Sudbury’s Belle Vue Park with a new environmentally friendly café and fully accessible facility were approved by Babergh District Council’s cabinet.
The plans would mean demolishing the existing 1930s toilet block, now in poor condition, and replacing it with a more sustainable modular building, housing a community café and toilet block including a Changing Places unit, offering local people and visitors to the town centre park, modern and fully accessible facilities. The work would be funded through a number of sources, including using the capital receipt from the sale of Belle Vue House which was bought by developers McCabe and Abel back in May, and a £45K grant following a successful bid for Changing Places funding.
The new building would then require planning consent with further consultation as part of the process but, if approved, could be in place by spring 2024. The proposed design is environmentally friendly, with an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of ‘A’, solar PV, air source heat pumps and fittings.
Electric vehicle and bicycle charging points, biodiversity planting, and new play equipment and features are also being explored as part of the council’s wider strategy for the park.