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Artist's impression of Belle Vue Park opening out into the town Artist's impression of Belle Vue Park opening out into the town.ANL-151223-100633001

10:02 Tuesday 29 December 2015 18:30 Thursday 24 December 2015

Plans to save an historic building in the centre of Sudbury by creating a communityand business hub and a bid open up Belle Vue Park have been revealed.

The Belle Vue Community Bid Team, now known as The Sudbury Community Estate, is one of threeshortlisted bids for the Belle Vue development site being sold by Babergh District Council.

Artist's impression of Belle Vue House with an added east wing. ANL-151223-100621001

The community bid was first launched after plans to sell the site were revealed last year, with Baberghgiving the go ahead for the building, which needs a large amount of renovation work, to be demolished.

Theo Bird, a Sudbury resident who set up and is chairing Sudbury Community Estate, said: “TheCommunity Estate firmly believes its bid’s three key themes; preserving Sudbury heritage, improvingSudbury quality of life, and modernising the Sudbury economy, will secure future growth.

“This will enable Sudbury to become a thriving market town in the digital age.”

If successful the scheme would see Belle Vue House saved and renovated, with a new east wing built.

Some of the land being sold would be used for enlargement of the popular park, with “enhancedaccess” from Belle Vue Junction.

The plans include an open pedestrian access from Belle Vue Junction, making the park visible from thetown centre, currently hidden by the closed BMX park site.

Two new buildings which flank Newton Road and Cornard Road would also be built, with one optionfor it to be used as a doctor’s surgery.

Mr Bird said: “The new development will afford the opportunity to restore and modernise Belle VueHouse so that it will serve another century at the heart of Stour Valley Community life.”

He added that The Community Estate’s bid was the only one to continue to offer a home to the SouthSuffolk Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).

The group hopes the open aspect of the park will increase its popularity, improve the entrance into thetown for visitors and increase the town’s popularity as a tourist destination.

As well as the CAB, the house will also host a community café that will serve a revamped terrace ontothe park.

There are also plans for a multi-media boardroom for up to 30 people that can function as a receptionspace, additional classroom space for adult education, a small business incubation hub - an area wheresmall businesses and individuals can hire desk space - and toilet facilities.

Subject to affordability, the Community Estate plans to operate a select number of outreach programsincluding hiring activities officers to promote Sudbury sports and social clubs.

The bid team also hopes to start a scheme to help promote other local community spaces in the StourValley Area, such as village halls.

Mr Bird and the team are confident the scheme would provide more than 60 jobs on site – phasingfrom construction to workers on site following completion.

“Excluding big retailers, the Community Estate estimates the Sudbury retail economy to be worth £16-20million per annum,” said Mr Bird.

“By improving Sudbury as a destination and regenerating the town centre the Community Estate isconfident its scheme could grow the local retail economy by eight to 12 per cent.”

He added: “I would like to thank everyone involved in producing our bid which is potentially a hugesuccess for the Sudbury Steering Group Committee, perfectly aligned to Babergh District Council’scorporate priorities.

“We sincerely hope our funded bid is successful.”

A campaign was set up last year to save the building.