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Elsea
Park
The entrance to Elsea Park pictured in
March 2003.
A major housing
scheme costing an estimated £10 million that will eventually bring 2,000 new homes to Bourne was announced in March 1999, the biggest single residential development in the history of Bourne and if it comes to fruition in its entirety, it will increase the population by 50% within a decade.
The site chosen is 300 acres of prime agricultural land alongside the main A15 trunk road to the south west of the town and on the very edge of a small copse known as Elsea Wood and so the new estate is to be called Elsea Park. The project was greeted with a great deal of criticism, mainly because of the speed with which it was pushed through and the lack of public consultation. The main objections were that a development of this magnitude would not only encroach on the existing green belt but would also increase traffic flows through the town centre at peak periods and on roads in the vicinity that were already overcrowded, especially the main A15 into Peterborough. The population explosion would also bring an estimated 6,000 newcomers to the town, putting more pressure on schools, libraries, public transport, leisure amenities, medical and other facilities.
Elsea Wood alongside
the A15 trunk road south of Bourne
Allison Homes, the Spalding-based company handling the development, was already well advanced with The Beeches estate of two, three and four bedroom houses nearby and this influx of new families was already having a dramatic effect on the A15 at this point, turning it into a major traffic hazard, especially during the rush hour, making it unsafe to cross into the new estate except by car.
The town's M P Mr Quentin Davies, the member for Grantham and Stamford, also joined in the debate by warning that the development was in the wrong place and that South Kesteven District Council should have been more careful "about handing out planning consents like so much confetti" without due regard to existing roads, traffic flows and the infrastructure.
A public exhibition was held at the Red Hall in October 1999 in an attempt to allay public fears about the effect that 2,000 new homes would have on the locality but many of the 200 people who attended came away totally dispirited by the experience because there was insufficient information over the provision of the additional facilities that would be needed to cope with this massive influx of people. Visitors were told that the development would take ten to fifteen years to complete although there is no time schedule for the new facilities that were included in the plan. Nevertheless, this is what
the developers proposed:
Despite the opposition, members of South Kesteven District Council's planning and development control committee voted 15-1 in favour of granting outline planning permission when they met on November 2nd and this was subsequently ratified by the full council.
Work on the new
Elsea Park estate began in the summer of 2001
The authority insisted that Bourne would benefit through what has become known as the planning gain which means that in return for permission to build houses, the developers would provide certain public services. This was also the promise made by local councillor John Smith, the member for Bourne West and chairman of South Kesteven District Council's planning and development control committee, who is on record as saying:
The district council has passed the outline planning application having first insisted on a design and development brief and also having obtained substantial planning gains for the benefit of the town such as a relief road, a new school, extensions to the Robert Manning and Grammar School classes, an extension to the grammar school playing fields, a community hall, playing fields, nature areas, cycle routes, local shops, pub, surgery, children's play areas, employment opportunity area, improvements to the library, town centre traffic lights, a regular community bus service to the town centre and
more.
Work on the new estate and the realignment of the A15 at this point started during the summer of 2001
and the picture below shows the progress with the new road alignment complete
and the first of the houses nearing completion in April 2002.
The first of the new houses on the estate nearing completion in the
spring of 2002
By the
summer of 2002, the first of the new homes had been completed. They formed the
initial phase known as St Peter's View, the gateway to the residential development. Only 71 of them will be here at the entrance to the park, accessed by a bridge crossing an ornamental lake with fountains that have already started spouting water and so what was once productive farmland is fast becoming part of the new suburbia although it will cost you around £200,000 to live here, more if you have broader domestic
horizons.
Three
hundred people who attended a public launch of the project were told that all
homes will feature energy efficient technology, including superior levels of
insulation, and, wherever possible, building materials would be specified as
being from local and sustainable sources. The first of the street signs have
also gone up on the perimeter road which will remember one of our most famous
sons who brought fame to the town through his achievements in the international
world of motor racing because it will be known as Raymond Mays Way, while the
town is also beginning to benefit from the planning gain with the completion of
the new south west relief road although the project has not been without its
problems.
See
The south west relief road
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF THE DEVELOPMENT
DURING THE planning stages, detailed wildlife surveys
were carried out and several areas were found to be important and worthy
of preservation while others were identified as places where flora and
fauna could be encouraged.
The most important were Math and Elsea Woods which lie south of the new
south west relief road. These woods have been shown to be ancient with
many of the oak and ash trees thought to be direct descendants of trees
that colonised England after the last Ice Age. Several of the existing
ditches between Math Wood and Elsea Park were found to be home for rare
water beetles and birds such as yellowhammers were nesting in the
hedgerows. Sections of these ditches and hedges have been retained along
with a number of mature trees. In addition, new ditches have been dug and
trees and hedgerows planted.
The field between Math and Elsea Wood and the south west relief road is
being developed as a special wildlife haven. Three ponds have been created
and planted with aquatic plants which will quickly attract dragonflies,
frogs and newts. Wildflowers will be encouraged to grow in the meadow
between the ponds and the woods and a strip along the edge of the wood is
being left for trees and shrubs to colonise naturally. In addition to
creating the wildlife habitats, specific measures are being taken to
protect the wild badgers that live around the development.
Residents of Elsea Park will be able to make a contribution through the
Community Trust which will help to oversee future management of the
wildlife areas. We will also be providing a number of ecology leaflets
from English Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to
increase the knowledge on how to care for the wildlife.
Edited version from the Allison Homes
Internet web site August 2005 |
Why Elsea Park was approved by Councillor John
Smith
UPDATED AUGUST 2005
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