Vision for Prosperity in Needham Market

Building on the “Vision for Prosperity” (VFP) for Sudbury and the 5-Year Action Plan for Stowmarket launched last year, Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils are now extending the Vision Programme to help more places in the district develop and realise a vision which "articulates the place and its attractiveness, defines who the place is for, how it is special, where it has come from and where it is going in the future".

Over the coming months, the District Councils with their place specialist partner, thinkingplace will work with stakeholders including community groups, businesses and the Town Councils to begin the Vision development for Needham Market.

Workshops

The "Visioning" process started by talking with people in a workshop held on 26 June 2019 to understand what their town is about and what makes it special. Over 50 people took part in the two events, expressing their view about what makes Needham Market unique and loved.

The Council has collected lots of information and will continue to work with local people to develop "place narrative for Needham Market" this will include action plans, as well as develop an identity and "unique selling point" to promote the town, stimulating civic pride and promoting investment.

Next steps

The Council will review the information gathered so far and develop some ideas before returning to the town to gather more views on the Vision.

As before, the intention is to engage with communities in new ways to keep it interesting, but also to ensure that the Vision truly reflects the people of the town and their ambitions.

What will the Vision do?

The visions will set out a long-term goal that all future actions and projects will work towards, helping the towns achieve each community’s individual ambitions. These will be the umbrella documents and narrative which all other actions and projects will link to, demonstrating a unified vision for each town.

Each vision document will:

• showcase the characteristics that make each town unique and explore how they can be developed to provide a clear message as to why people should continue to want to live, work and visit these places and why businesses should continue to invest there.
• be tailored to the place and its people and developed through a collaborative creation process with local residents and businesses.
• be ambitious - ‘stretching’ - but also honest, believable and realistically deliverable within a medium/long term time frame.
• unite the community behind a 25+ year ambition, so that future decisions will always be made with a view to achieving that ambition

Keep a look out on the Council's website and Social Media channels for further information and events, as we would like as many people as possible to be involved in planning their own futures

#VFPNEEDHAM MARKET