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Quiet Lanes Suffolk

Self-help Process & County-wide Deployment

Since the completion of the original pilot in 2014, a sizeable number of other parishes saw the vision and benefits of this scheme applicable for their own locale, whilst expanding the network to create a much greater impact. View the County Map to see the scale and potential demand for this scheme to be developed further.

As the initial pilot lanes were substantially funded, the subsequent cost to implement a lane became a significant barrier for most parishes - with figures in the region of £5,000 each been quoted.

So, in the era of austerity and mind-set of self-help, came forward a small but determined team of parishes and individuals keen to continue with this ambition to extend the network of quiet lanes across Suffolk.

This scheme was endorsed by the Greenprint Forum public event in March 2019 as part of their wider Active Travel campaign theme for that year. This broader programme of activities was subsequently supported by the East Suffolk Communities Partnership. And all of the East Suffolk district councillors have travel and transport as a key issue their communities need to see being addressed in this mostly rural area.

Thanks to the ongoing engagement of the County Council Highways officers and buoyed with support from District, County and Parish councillors, the QLS team believe we've found a way forward to significantly reduce the costs through a self-help process. A small pilot deployment is envisaged to fine tune the process and create the template documents before opening up further batched deployments open to all parishes across Suffolk - subject to time, funding, resource and due process constraints.

The Process

Each Parish should be aware of the following process and designate a nominated and empowered champion to lead the activities required by their Parish volunteers in order to support this process...

Step 1. Understand what quiet lanes are and are not about so the right approach is taken from the start and Register your expression of interest

1A. non-committal at this stage but a nominated local lead needs to be identified before the application is allowed to proceed

Step 2. Initial validation, provisional street-signage designs and prioritisation if necessary, for each lane

2A.the QLS Board will put forward a recommendation for SCC Highways to ensure only the potentially suitable lanes are put forward to the next stage

2B. Parishes may also need to obtain traffic flow and speed data for the proposed lane(s) before proceeding to the next stage

2C. a Highways design plan produced for the lanes signage locations for input to the next stage

Step 3. Public consultation, including a formal public planning notice in the press advising of the batch of lane(s) being considered and consulted on

3A. Notice be given to the whole parish(es) community, and to businesses situated along the proposed lane(s)

3B. Erect the formal planning notifications and allow 21 days for the public to comment

3C. Hold a public meeting, can be virtual Zoom meeting, where the proposal(s) can be discussed and any objections raised

3C. SCC Highways to consider any objections and make a final decision for implementation or not

Step 4. Implementation

4A. finalise the design plan following the consultation

4B. Advertise the planning notification outcome

4C. Arrange for the street signage to be installed (by volunteers and/or contractors)

4D. Celebrate with a grand opening (subject to covid restrictions of course)

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