About us
Quiet Lanes Suffolk was a county-wide project supported by Suffolk County Council’s Suffolk 2020 Fund, the East Suffolk Community Partnerships and the East Suffolk Greenprint Forum as well as being co-funded by Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils.
We were a small group of volunteers working with Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council to support Parish Councils across the county through the process of establishing a ‘Quiet Lane’ in their parish, going from the initial identification of suitable lanes, through the local consultation and application process to final sign-off and designation.
Our objectives
Our aim was to benefit everyone who lives in, works in and visits our county, by designating rural lanes as ‘Quiet Lanes’ to encourage the use of more active forms of travel such as walking, cycling and horse-riding. We want to improve people’s physical and mental wellbeing through Quiet Lanes, as well as support the drive towards making Suffolk carbon neutral by 2030 in response to the climate emergency.
The plan
After a pilot scheme in 2014, one of our findings was that the cost of the Quiet Lane process was likely to be prohibitive as it stood. With this in mind we developed a community-led, self-help model for Parish Councils to use and encouraged neighbouring Parish Councils to work together, pooling their resources to reduce costs further. Now there are well over 300 miles of designated Quiet Lanes in 130 parishes across Suffolk for people to enjoy.