Belle Vue Community Bid Team

@BVCBT
PRESS RELEASE EMBARGOED UNTIL THURSDAY 9th APRIL
Thursday April 9th
COMMUNITY RIGHT TO BID ACCEPTANCE OF NOMINATION
The Belle Vue Community Bid Team is pleased to announce that Belle Vue House
and the former swimming pool has been accepted by Babergh & Mid Suffolk District
Councils as an Asset of Community Value.
The successful registration confirms the Bid Teams belief that the site should be
registered as it has been in constant community use for almost a century; from its
earliest days as a hospital for recuperating soldiers in WW1 to its present use a
Citizens Advice Bureau with a multitude of community-based activities in-between.
The community group now has 6 months to incorporate, finalise plans, raise finance
and make credible proposals to the owner. The owner is not obliged to accept the
resulting offer. The Bid Team should however provide the strongest district benefit
which is the preferred outcome of the present owner, Babergh District Council.
Following its own market research the Bid Teams vision for the building is a
community-oriented portfolio asset while augmenting the day-to-day park experience
for residents. The Bid Team is also interested to open dialogue with Hardwicke House
Group Practice who also made a bid.
Theodore Bird, Chair and founder of the BVCBT (who is also standing as an
Independent District Councillor for Sudbury South) said Our District Councils,
working together, must be applauded for accepting our nomination and registering the
site as a Community Asset, especially as Babergh is also the owner which proves the
system works. We will now formulate our plans and make a credible bid.
The Bid Teams proposal will incorporate the build of new, low overhead, low carbon
premises for the Citizens Advice Bureau on site in order to ensure the vital local
service is retained in Sudbury. The Bid Teams aspiration for the swimming pool site
is that development should support the reorganisation of Belle Vue Junction to
provide a better gateway to both the park and town.
NOTES
Press contact: Theodore Bird, @Thdrbrd
Twitter for updates: @BVCBT
Activities in and around the building may comprise:

A 4-star reception and lounge area suitable for businesses during the week and
private functions at evenings and weekends
A licensed caf bar area with beer garden open to the public and to support the
reception areas (also suitable for functions)
Business incubation services for desk based workers, creative workers, textiles, IT
and food & drink; Exploring partnerships in the shared economy start up space
with operators such as Google, Seedcamp or Makerversity
A community-operated crche
Tourism planning and bike hire
Open air concert, theatre and cinema venue (summer)

Business incubation case study:

An example of local business incubation opportunities are many of the traders at
Sudbury Farmers Market. Typically a trader may turn over 20-30k but the high cost
of upsizing to a 30k+ commercial kitchen in order to grow is prohibitive. So why not
a larger and better kitchen at Belle Vue and rent it by the hour? The bigger kitchen
will support better on site catering and food produced on site could be used for events
and sold in the caf too.
Belle Vue Community Bid Team:
The Belle Vue Community Bid Team (@BVCBT) is an Unincorporated Community
Interest Group of 30 members registered in the Babergh. Once incorporated, the bid
team will become The Sudbury Community Estate with any profit invested into
local community-oriented projects or schemes for the greater benefit of Sudbury
residents.
Belle Vue House Background:
The site was originally developed by Nathaniel Burrough, a retired city grocer and
cousin of artist Thomas Gainsborough, who built a Georgian mansion in the 1780s.
This was occupied latterly by Edmund Stedman, a Sudbury solicitor, and his family.
He died in 1864. This house was demolished in 1871.
The site was then acquired by Henry Crabb Canham, a partner in Andrews and
Canham, solicitors, Friars Street, Sudbury. (The same Andrews family who, about
1750, commissioned Thomas Gainsborough to paint the portrait of Mr and Mrs
Andrews). In addition, Canham was one of Sudburys leading citizens being Clerk to
various local government bodies.
An advertisement in the Ipswich Journal in 1872 indicates that the present Belle
Vue House was designed by noted London architects Henry Spalding and Samuel
Knight (Nos. 12 13, King Street, Covent Garden, London, and later the following
Grade II Listed buildings: Dulwich and Camberwell Public Baths; Victoria Square
Dwellings, Manchester; the Drill Hall, Camden, London, and others). Work
commenced building the 15-room Belle Vue House sometime after June 1872 and the
Canham family were in residence in 1874.
The Canhams sold Belle Vue House in 1912 and it was then gifted to the Red Cross
who used it as a hospital for convalescing servicemen between 1914-19. In 1922 the

Red Cross sold it to a private owner who in turn sold it to Sudbury Town Council in
1936. In 1974, following local government re-organisation, it was passed to the
present owners, Babergh District Council.
Community uses:
Throughout the 20th and 21st Century the House and Grounds have been in continuous
use as a Community Asset:
Previous uses:
WW1 Red Cross Hospital for servicemen;
Community meeting hub - The building was used by residents for key discussions
relating to the town, most notably to host a Public Inquiry to save the Corn Exchange
from demolition (now Library);
Drop in centre for senior citizens;
Youth Club;
Outdoor swimming pool.
Recent / Current uses:
Citizens Advice Bureau (still current);
Adult education classes Closed 2014;
Social Services relating to pupil referral and tuition of excluded children. Still
current;
The Hub. Friday evening youth club - Closed 2014;
Outreach for West Suffolk College - (still current);
Over 50's drop in centre Closed 2014;
Sudbury B.M.X park (still current).