The original idea was announced in August 2001 and there followed months of speculation and negotiation between the various authorities involved but in December 2004 three preferred schemes went on display at the Corn Exchange, the first glimpse the public had of the proposed new town centre. The following month, in January 2005, it was decided that as a result of the consultation, work costing £27 million would be carried out by Henry Davidson Developments, the other schemes being submitted by Dencora and the Harrison Group.

The scheme sanctioned by the Bourne Town Centre Management Partnership (TCMP) meant that rebuilding of the core area, that triangle of land between North Street, West Street and Burghley Street, would begin in the next two to three years with an anticipated programme of approximately 12-18 months.

An artist's impression of the proposed scheme by Henry Davidson Developments

The choice of Henry Davidson Developments was made on the recommendation of a selection panel of the partnership, assisted by professional advisors Barker Storey Matthews. The public exhibition of the three schemes was held between 9th and 13th December 2004. More than 400 people attended and some 160 responses generated which, together with the comments of Bourne Town Council, were taken into account by the selection panel in reaching their decision. The three schemes submitted were:

1 Henry Davidson Developments of Nottingham: The scheme extends and diversifies the town centre with retail-led development, emphasises existing routes across the site; promotes links to existing retail areas and links to public transport; provides public spaces; enhances pedestrian and cyclist access; retains existing buildings of architectural quality; enhances community safety; new buildings will reflect qualities and features of existing buildings; materials used will complement those found in the Bourne town centre locality and the scale of buildings to be in keeping with Bourne town centre and progressive town centre development.

2 S Harrison Group of Malton, North Yorkshire: The scheme will create a new shopping area, an additional 75,000 sq ft, which will enhance the vibrancy of the town; attract new, quality retailers; create a new centrepiece, a public square; create a new car park with 125 spaces; provide new public conveniences; improve pedestrian, cycle and road links to the existing town centre. As well as including attractive public spaces, it will also provide 40 new homes. The existing mill in Burghley Street will be converted into apartments. The proposal has been designed in sympathy with the attractive surroundings of Bourne. It will complement, not compete with, what Bourne already has to offer.

3 Dencora of Norwich, Norfolk: The scheme is sympathetic in both scale and style to the historic town centre. It takes into account the conservation area within which this part of the town lies. The layout fully integrates into the current town centre with links north, south, east and west. The development is of a mixed use, incorporating approximately 70,000 sq ft of retail space with a number of residential units. Car parking of approximately 140 spaces is included. The residential units will create an appropriate streetscape around the new public square and add interest to the perimeter of the scheme through small courtyard developments. The scheme will promote traffic management and servicing proposals to help alleviate congestion on North Street. The proposal provides for around £20 million of investment in the town and will create a regenerated town centre and be a catalyst for further investment in the future.

Norman Stroud, the TCMP chairman and a member of the selection panel, said: “We have been greatly encouraged by the quality of the submitted schemes, and the level of interest in bringing a major commercial investment to the town centre. We were presented with three exceptionally high quality schemes and the selection process identified Henry Davidson Developments as the clear unanimous favourite. We look forward to working with them to achieve a redevelopment of this area that is vital to the future prosperity of the town.”

Ivan Fuller, the town centre co-ordinator, who has been at the forefront of the proposed development since May 2002, said he was pleased that the decision had been taken and Bourne could now move on to the final phase. He added: "It is going to take a considerable amount of time and full public consultation will be ongoing throughout the process."

But the scheme never materialised. After prolonged negotiations and many delays, Henry Davidson was dropped by South Kesteven District Council in August 2006 and Wilson-Bowden and Dencora asked to take up the contract. A smaller scheme was envisaged but traders were becoming impatient with the delay which they claimed was badly affecting their trade and future plans for expansion. Since then, little appears to have been achieved and public support for the idea has waned although there are occasional signs that the scheme is not dead.

In March 2007, it was revealed that money was the crux of the delay and that a further £1.5 million was needed from public funds before the scheme could go ahead, a complete reversal of the original promises that the entire project would be funded from commercial sources without further burdens on council tax payers. The additional finance, it was revealed, would come equally from SKDC and the government-funded East Midlands Development Agency, each paying £750,000.

This was not popular with the public or with Bourne Town Council and outspoken councillor, Trevor Holmes, articulated their dismay:

South Kesteven District Council is going against everything it said about the scheme being totally self-funding. The additional money will be providing extra profit for the developer, money which is sorely needed for important things in our community, like a proper transport service for the elderly and infirm and the provision of proper public amenities. The extended timescale is going to create an even greater amount of turmoil and loss of business for the town, to the detriment of the shopper and the established and necessary businesses that presently grace our high street. If the district council plans to take our council tax to fund a development more closely aligned to a sympathetic improvement of the conservation area, I could be supportive. But if it will be used to generate a bog-standard, off-the-shelf shopping centre, I would be outraged.

There were demands for a public inquiry into the entire scheme and the majority of people now believed that the project was dead and on Friday 19th April 2007, a most important letter was printed in the correspondence columns of The Local newspaper concerning the intention of SKDC to use the Local Forum at Bourne on Wednesday 20th June to test reaction over the previously unstated proposal for the expenditure of an additional £1.5 million on the town centre development. The author was Tim Bladon, of Wendover Close, Rippingale, near Bourne, who wrote:

The democratic process of a properly constituted and legal consultation with the public should be used rather than the forum process suggested. The reason for this becomes evident from the minutes of the cabinet meeting held on April 2nd in which it is recorded that the forum approach to the matter was voted on by five members of the cabinet with a resulting majority of only one. The forum, by definition, is merely a meeting to exchange views. It has no statutory or legal powers and as such has no obligation to take notice of or action on any views the public might express in the matter, whereas a properly constituted consultation is required to produce results that are legally acceptable. The use of the forum process will enable the council to appear to be concerned about public opinion, filter out any questions that they wish to evade and deny transparency of the decision process used. The cabinet is formed of representatives who have been elected by the taxpayer to represent them and their interests. In view of the gravity of the matter, the cabinet should not be denying them the use of the democratic process to decide which way they wish to be consulted in order to achieve a legal and binding outcome. In the best interests of the taxpayer/residents, I request that the method of resolving the matter of the proposed substantial expenditure on this project be by a properly constituted and accountable public inquiry.

The letter provoked widespread debate in the town but despite the significance of the points made, there was no reply from officers or councillors and no public inquiry was held.
 
In September 2007, interest was again revived in the project when SKDC announced that despite persistent troubles it was keen to push on with the town centre facelift and negotiations were proceeding for the purchase of a small piece of land within the development area which would help facilitate the project once it got underway although the primary scheme appeared to be no nearer fruition.

There was a major setback to the project early in 2009 when the country was overtaken by economic recession, halting work on many housing and development projects throughout the country and by May, talks with Wilson-Bowden and Dencora had been broken off and SKDC was looking for another contractor. There was, however, optimism that that scheme would still go ahead and the council announced a policy of buying up sites as they became available.

Some 37% per cent of the required land involving over 40 properties had already been acquired including the old grain warehouse in Burghley Street (£350,000), a motor salvage yard and warehouse on the corner of Wherry's lane and two semi-detached houses in Burghley Street (£285,000), while £3 million had been set aside for further purchases. The council's senior estates surveyor, Nick Vass, told The Local newspaper (Friday 8th May) that a formal tender procedure that had been pursued in the past was no longer a viable option and they were now focusing on buying up as much of the core development area as possible. "The more was can acquire the more desirable the project becomes to a developer", he said, "and it puts us in a more responsible bargaining position. We are still trying to create the right climate in the current economic conditions to attract a developer and ensure the delivery of the scheme with a deadline of 2012 although now it may be delivered in phases."

In August 2009, SKDC issued a statement saying that every effort was being made to acquire properties for the redevelopment but this did not appear to take the scheme any further forward and many members of the public remained critical of the entire project which had been condemned by some as futile and "a white elephant".

Further statements of support came from the council during the summer months but in January 2010, serious doubts about the future viability of the project surfaced when the council leader, Linda Neal (Bourne West), told The Local newspaper that a retail survey was to be carried out to determine whether the scheme should go ahead and this was regarded by many as the death knell of the redevelopment.

The survey would involve establishing current shopping outlets and future needs and once the results had been collated, as early as the end of January, it would be decided whether the scheme was still viable. Councillor Linda Neal explained: “The council will need to look at the results of the study alongside the current economic climate and re-evaluate the viability of delivering the scheme as currently proposed. This might mean something smaller or for a different purpose.”

By May 2010, it was evident that the original £27 million redevelopment scheme had been scrapped. Councillor Neal made a statement to the Stamford Mercury saying that a smaller version was now likely involving the development of a series of shops, restaurants and flats in the area of Wherry's Lane at a cost of £4-5 million (May 28th) and her statement was also printed by The Local newspaper the following week (June 4th). But it appeared obvious to everyone, traders and the general public, that this was the inevitable end of a flawed project and the announcement failed to stimulate any great interest.
 

REVISED JUNE 2010

See The end of the town centre redevelopment