Planning permission has been approved for our design for the new Bawdsey Cafe. The proposed new building has come about as a result of Suffolk Coastal DC’s proposal to divest itself of the Bawdsey Quay public car park site, transferring it to Bawdsey Parish Council to manage and maintain. The proposed building has been conceived as a new visitor centre with cafe, designed to complement the sensitive setting in the AONB. Equally important is the fact that it has been designed to generate a rental income for the Parish Council which will enable it to manage and maintain the public car park in perpetuity without a substantial increase to the Parish Precept. Without the new building the Parish Council will not be in a position to take over the site.
The site is largely wooded with limited, informal parking, some picnic tables and public toilets. The project will improve these facilities and build a visitor centre/ exhibition area/ café specifically designed to meet high environmental standards and complement the wooded site.
The proposed building is a light weight and flat roofed timber framed building, constructed on timber stilts. It will appear as a low impact intervention into the woodland.
