Operating within a multi-disciplinary team, we have helped East Suffolk Council rethink how good design is understood, secured and delivered across the district. Prompted by local government reorganisation, a new combined Local Plan and the sunset of Supplementary Planning Documents, the project brief evolved from a single district-wide design code into a broader East Suffolk Place Shaping Framework, built around three consistent themes: Place, Policy and Process.
Feria Urbanism led the public and stakeholder engagement strand, building a wide-reaching public engagement programme combining youth workshops, and walking tours across Woodbridge, Framlingham and Leiston. Our results were combined with the results from the wider team: Digital engagement, a desktop policy and place audit, workshops with council officers, members, town and parish councils, as well as developers and design professionals. The outcome was a rich set of data about what makes a good place.
The project surfaced strong “place positivity” across the district, alongside clear community priorities: Landscape and Heritage, Traffic and Parking, Walking and Cycling, and Neglected but Valued High Streets. These now underpin the final framework’s recommendations on vision, place DNA, targeted growth guidance, governance, and delivery.
