Babergh is offering two options to two separate developers, so let us consider them separately.

Belle Vue House: Babergh have an obligation to provide McCarthy and Stone with a suitable site, since they have refused permission for the construction of retirement homes on the McCarthy and Stone property at Francis road. Belle Vue House does not seem a fair exchange. The house is unsuitable for conversion and even if it is knocked down and all the trees pulled out, the area will still be smaller than the one they are being asked to give up. If it is a poor deal for McCarthy and Stone, it is an even poorer deal for Sudbury. Belle Vue House is rather coyly tucked away, but it is a fine example of late Victorian architecture. In the First World War it took the overflow of military casualties from St Leonard's Hospital on the other side of the Newton Road and later served as a pleasant convalescent home for the wounded servicemen. For many years after that it served as the borough council offices. It now houses the Citizens' Advice Bureau, West Suffolk College in Sudbury and the Stour Valley Centre. Despite its many and varied roles it remains substantially unaltered and has earned its way into the hearts of the citizens of Sudbury. In a bid to save it from demolition, the Society has applied to English Heritage to have it listed.
The derelict land next to Belle Vue House: This is actually a much larger area and Hardwicke House have, apparently, had their eyes on it for some time. They want to have their GP clinic as near the town centre as possible. The advantages of this choice are questionable. Pedestrian access will be across the busiest road junction in the town. Current vehicle access is only from the Newton road, restricted to traffic coming into Sudbury. Suffolk Highways have insisted that a new access be opened from the Cornard Road, across Belle Vue Park. Babergh have said that "very little of the green spaces at Belle Vue will be affected". Although the access road may not occupy much land, it cuts the park in two. Mothers who now are happy for their toddlers to romp where they wish, will have the anxiety of keeping them away from the road.

There is another aspect to the establishment of a GP clinic here. All that the NHS will allow in substitution of the hospital that Sudbury wants is a "health facility". This will consist of the clinics – X-ray, ante-natal, blood etc – that already operate here, and this they wish to site beside a GP clinic.
In a letter dated August 13, the West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust said that "the Suffolk NHS (Suffolk Primary Care Trust) will be building a new health facility in Sudbury ... West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust has made available three sites (Walnuttree and St Leonard's Hospitals and the Churchfield Road site) that it currently owns in Sudbury for this purpose. The process for identifying the new building's location is being led by the PCT and involves representative Sudbury residents." Sadly, trust in the statements of the West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust has worn very thin. St Leonard's is almost certainly a non-starter.
Walnuttree would be ideal in many ways, but the whispers are that they really have other ideas for this, but the Churchfield road site, now that has real possibilities. All the new development of Sudbury is to the North, in that direction. Road access is easy. There is plenty of room for both facilities and car parking. So if Hardwicke House and the health facility move there, the swimming pool site could be offered to McCarthy and Stone. A retirement complex does not need so much vehicular access, so the Cornard road entrance could be scrapped and everyone would be satisfied.

Nick Hallidie
Chairman
Sudbury Society