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A MAJOR HOUSING scheme costing an estimated £10 million
that will eventually bring 2,000 new homes to Bourne is currently
underway, the biggest single residential development in the
history of the town and expected to increase the population by 50% within a decade.
The 300 acre site was originally 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
has been called Elsea Park. The project was greeted with a great
deal of criticism and there were objections 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.
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 and building now
continues. The development company promised many benefits as part of
the planning gain and a relief road has already been built but
residents now await a promised community centre and other
recreational facilities although a new school and doctors' surgery
are unlikely to materialise.
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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 illustrious 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. |
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