Sustainable travel
Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils are committed to helping our residents and visitors make sustainable journeys. These journeys benefit our environment, as well as our physical and mental health and wellbeing.
To learn more about our goals - and how we will work to achieve them - please read our vision document:
Read our Vision for Sustainable Travel
Active travel
Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils have produced a joint Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. This is often referred to as an ‘LCWIP’.
The plan was developed following an extensive community consultation in 2021, which helped us to identify improvements needed to help our residents and visitors feel safe and comfortable whilst walking or cycling around our districts.
Each proposed improvement has been prioritised into either a short, medium or long term ambition based on a variety of different factors, and a very rough estimate price has been calculated.
The district council does not have the funding to implement these improvements – so the prices you see in the plan do not mean that this cost has been budgeted for or that monies have already been allocated.
However, the plan can be used as a tool for the district council to work with partners to seek funding for - and the delivery of - these improvements.
You can read more information about the plan, why and how it was developed, and how we hope to implement it via the link below:
Read our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan methodology report
You can read the list of improvements, and further detail about how they have been prioritised via the links below:
Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan schemes for Babergh
Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan schemes for Mid Suffolk
The schemes are also displayed via the interactive map below:
The list of improvements and map of schemes - and how they have been prioritised - remain a dynamic part of our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. Therefore, the plan will be reviewed regularly and is subject to changes and amendments.
If you have any feedback that you would like us to consider, please email Katherine Davies, our Sustainable Travel Officer.
If you come across a new or urgent issue with existing cycling or walking infrastructure, please report a highways issue via Suffolk County Council's Highways Reporting Tool.
Such issues may include:
- damage to, or obstruction on, cycle lanes
- missing or damaged pedestrian guardrails
- problems with signage
For more information about walking and cycling in the districts, please access the following links:
- The Way to Go Suffolk - this website includes local walking and cycling maps
- Discover Suffolk - this website (and app) includes suggested walking and cycling routes
- Public rights of way and access in Suffolk - these webpages from Suffolk County Council (SCC) include information about how to access (and report problems with) the local public rights of way network
- Quiet Lanes Suffolk - this website provides information about the 'Quiet Lanes' initiative, which provides safer spaces to walk and cycle
Encouraging more active travel
As part of our work to encourage more walking and wheeling, we regularly take part in - or share - national active travel campaigns, like Cycling UK's Big Bike Revival. We also run community engagement events, which focus on sustainable travel as a topic.
We have worked in partnership with Suffolk County Council, and Performance in Education, to deliver interactive, theatrical performances in primary schools. These performances encourage pupils and parents to travel to school more sustainably, and they raise awareness of the environmental benefits of doing so - which include reducing carbon emissions, and improving local air quality.
For more information about these performances, please access the following document:
Abbie Ayre and the Shed of Science (tour evaluation report)
Passenger transport (public and community transport)
Whilst we do not operate, or hold contracts for, passenger transport, we are committed to supporting the needs of our residents and visitors. Wherever possible, we support transport delivery partners so that they can do this.
Because of this, we are an engaged, committed key stakeholder in the:
- Suffolk Enhanced Partnership (for bus travel)
- East West Main Line Partnership (for train travel)
For more information about local passenger transport (including services and timetables), please visit Suffolk on Board's website.
To find out about rural community transport provision in your area - and to book a journey - please visit Suffolk on Board's Connecting Communities webpage.
Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure
We provide EV charging facilities within the car parks that we own and operate. You can find details of these EV charging points - including number of bays, types of charger, and cost per kilowatt-hour - by visiting our Car parks and parking webpages.
Use ZapMap for information about where you can find other public access charge points across the district.
We also work with our local communities, and Suffolk County Council's Plug in Suffolk programme, to support further EV infrastructure rollout.
Babergh and Mid Suffolk Councils have published a Joint EV Infrastructure Implementation Plan, which makes suggestions on potential locations - on our land - for new charge points, as and when funding becomes available.