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Elsea Park photographed 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.
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:
- A primary school for local children
- A multi-purpose community hall
- Sites available for a doctor's surgery and crèche
- Cycle, pedestrian and vehicle links and a shuttle bus route
through the development
- Sports pitches, toddler play area and nature conservation
areas
- Links to Bourne town centre and existing public footpaths to
the surrounding countryside
- Retention of the majority of existing site features e g
hedgerows, ponds, etc.
- The South West Relief road to reduce traffic congestion
within Bourne town centre
- Measures to protect and enhance the ecology including the
protection of Math and Elsea Woods, a Site of Special
Scientific Interest
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 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.
More than 70 of them will be here at the entrance to the park, accessed by a bridge crossing an ornamental lake with fountains
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
had also gone up by the summer of 2002 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.
See also
Why Elsea Park was
approved
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