Assurances that land for 174 homes at Elsea Park in Bourne is clean and not contaminated
A housebuilder has provided assurances over the suitability of land allocated for 174 new homes.
Taylor Wimpey received planning permission in January from South Kesteven District Council to build 174 homes on land between Harvey Close and Musselburgh Way.
But concerns over the suitability of the site were raised at this month’s meeting of Bourne Town
Council.
From 1958 to 1980 a piece of land less than 30m from the homes site was used for landfill and part of it was a horse abattoir, which is now a pond.
Residents attended the open forum session of a Bourne Town Council meeting on Tuesday, November 5, to outline their views.
Julian Gray, of Harvey Close in Bourne, said a geological survey in 2016 stated the presence of two historic landfill sites very close to the site. He also claimed that ‘there were JCBs digging up bits of metal’.
“Bourne Angling Club were going to take it over but they found there was bio-contamination in these ponds.”
He said residents weren’t against new homes being built, but felt their views had been left out of discussions.
Steve Fowkes, another Harvey Close resident, asked if current Elsea Park residents, living close to the land knew about its history.
“If this was known about, I’m not sure if that has been conveyed to the people living on Musselburgh Way,” he
said.
“Were they consulted about this and do they know it [the landfill] was there?”
Also at the meeting was Phil Moore, a senior planning officer at South Kesteven District Council, who said: “I don’t think anyone is disputing that there is contaminated land. We know that and it needs surveys to find out what is in there.”
Phil Jordan, development management planner at the district council, said it was in the developer’s interest to get the land sorted out and there was a requirement for developers to carry out a full investigation into the land.
He added: “There were no landfill sites within the application boundary.”
Bourne Town councillor Coun Bob Russell, said he had seen reports of asbestos concrete fragments on the land which ‘sent shivers’ down his spine.
Fellow town councillor Roy McKinney added: “These people are cheesed off because they are being ignored by the sound of it.”
Bourne Town Council is now due to discuss the issue further at a public meeting. A date for this is yet to be confirmed.
A Taylor Wimpey spokesman said after the meeting: “We have carried out a site investigation report and a full suite of chemical analysis testing, which have concluded the site is not contaminated and is suitable for residential development.”
The housebuilder added that as part of the planning consultation, issues such as these are considered in detail by the relevant authorities and the potentially contaminated land is significantly far enough away from the site to not be an issue.
