Elsea Park

Elsea Park

Elsea Park in 2006

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 the town and when completed in its entirety, is expected to increase the population by 50%. Original estimates were that it would be completed within a decade but the economic downturn which began in 2008 delayed building work and has added several years to the original projection..

The site chosen was 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 was called Elsea Park. The development was greeted with a great deal of criticism, even derision, mainly because of the speed with which it was pushed through and the lack of public consultation. The main objections were that a housing scheme 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

Allison Homes, the Spalding-based company handling the development, was already well advanced with other housing schemes in the town and the influx of new families was having a dramatic effect on the use of the A15 at this point. 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 begins in 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.

Progress in the spring of 2002

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, at the entrance to the estate accessed by a bridge crossing an ornamental lake with fountains spouting water. Three hundred people who attended a public launch of the project were told that all homes would 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 that went up on the perimeter road remembered one of our most famous sons who brought fame to the town through his achievements in the international world of motor racing when it was named Raymond Mays Way, while the town also began to benefit from the planning gain with the completion of the new south west relief road which eventually opened to traffic in 2005 after a five-month delay caused by problems between Lincolnshire County Council and the developers.


The perimeter road running past the estate was named Raymond Mays Way in 2005 (left) and the community centre was finally completed in 2012 (right).

Work continued uninterrupted for the next three years until the building industry was hit by the recession which forced developers to cut back on their programme. In the meantime, home owners on the estate protested that the other amenities promised by the developers had not materialised although they were being forced to pay £200 a year to the Elsea Park Trust to provide them. By this time, Allison Homes had been taken over by Twigden Homes and after pressure by residents, they applied for permission in December 2008 to build the long-awaited community centre and four shops although the planning application appeared to be dependent on a second application seeking sanction for yet another 43 housing units, this time apartments in a sheltered accommodation scheme designed specifically for the over-55s. Local councillors applauded the decision, apparently forgetting that these amenities and others had been promised ten years before.

The new community centre was finally completed early in 2012 when the developers, Kier Homes, handed over the keys to new £750,000 building off Sandown Drive. It includes a reception and lounge area, an office for the Elsea Park Community Trust which will run it, kitchen and main hall with a stage and an outside patio area, while the hall is linked to the estate through footpaths and cycleways. "It has been a long time coming but everyone is very excited about it", said Angela Bailey, chairman of the Elsea Park Community Trust. "The hall looks absolutely stunning. It will provide the estate with a real heart. We are already beginning to see a village atmosphere developing and the new centre can only further engender that feeling of community."

Photographed in May 2012

THE OFFICIAL HANDOVER
OF THE CENTRE

Daniel Brown, a director of Kier Homes, handed over the keys of the centre to Angela Bailey, chairman of the Elsea Park Community Trust, in April 2012. "The specification of the building is wonderful", she said, "and we cannot wait to see the building in full use."

Photograph courtesy The Local newspaper

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

ELSEA PARK IN 2006

Photographed in July 2006

REVISED MAY 2012