Bawdsey Quay Visitor Centre » Bawdsey Village Website

Despite over four years of hard work by the Working Group of Bawdsey Parish Council, the project to acquire the Bawdsey Quay Amenity Area from Suffolk Coastal District Council and develop a cafe-cum-Visitors' Centre on the site, has been indefinitely postponed. It was initially delayed by funding difficulties and uncertainty over the future ownership of Bawdsey Manor, but is now blocked by SCDC's change of policy. More details in the Working Group report (link above).

A robust Business Plan together with a detailed Risk Assessment had been presented to Bawdsey Parish Council and members of the public on Tuesday 1^st March 2016 at 7pm in the Village Hall. The accompanying slides may be seen via our link. At an additional parish council meeting on Monday 11^th April, the Parish Council voted to adopt and endorse the revised business plan for the development of the Bawdsey Quay Visitor Centre and cafe. Secondly they agreed to submit the adopted plan to SCDC as the basis for transferring the amenity land from SCDC to BPC.

Architect's model of the Visitor Centre

Background

In the spring of 2013 Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) approached Bawdsey Parish Council (BPC) with the offer of transferring ownership of the Community Area, comprising Car-park, picnic area and public toilets at Bawdsy Ferry, to the Parish Council.

The August 2013 edition of the Bawdsey Bulletin informed the Parish of that offer. The Parish Council are keen to accept the offer and keep the Amenity Site open and in public ownership, to avoid the site being sold on the open market by SCDC.

The Parish Council set up a Working Group, which includes members of the Parish Council, to consider the feasibility of such a transfer because there are significant running costs that cannot be met from parish funds.

The proposed solution was to establish a small business, such as a visitor centre/café on the site, operated by a third party. This would generate rental income to maintain the site.

The Parish Council invited expressions of interest from persons interested in helping with the financing, building and operating of such a business, by advertising in the East Anglia Daily Times on 3^rd and 10^th of March.