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Bourne Heights residents will finally get a path linking their development to West Road




Residents living at a town housing development will no longer have to negotiate a busy roundabout and muddy verges if they want to get about on foot.

A footpath is set to be built from the Bourne Heights development, part of Elsea Park to West Road in Bourne after planning permission was granted.

Discussions about the path, which will cost £15,000, had been taking place since November 2017.

The footpath will follow on from the end of Welland Drive and run parallel to the hedge. Photo: Barry Cook
The footpath will follow on from the end of Welland Drive and run parallel to the hedge. Photo: Barry Cook

Barry Cook, community trust manager of the Elsea Park Community Trust, said: “We are happy for residents because not putting in a path was definitely an oversight and we never thought it would take as long as it has to get one approved.

“When it is built, the footpath will mean that people can cross West Road safely and join up with the footpath on the other side. It means that they don’t have to walk in the mouth of the roundabout.”

The path will also enable people to cross the road inside the 30mph zone.

The planning application was approved on Monday last week and construction is expected to start very soon and should take two weeks.

Barry added: “The work will be carried out by Probus Construction of Cherry Holt Road in Bourne because we always try to use local firms where we can.”

When property developer Larkfleet built Bourne Heights, the proposed path was not constructed because the land it is to be built on is owned by another developer, Kier Living.

A spokesman for Larkfleet Homes said: “The footpath was never part of our plans because the land on which it will be built is outside of our control and is owned by a third party.

“Although we were therefore unable to provide the link as part of the adjacent Bourne Heights development, we are pleased to see that the landowner has been able to secure planning permission for a link which will go on to serve not only Bourne Heights, but future planned development in the wider Elsea Park development.”

Kier paid for site surveys, planning application fees, and obtained planning permission.

Lincolnshire County Council Highways had previously been approached about the footpath and it offered to fund part of the scheme if residents waited until 2020, or all of the scheme if they waited until 2021.

Barry explained that if Lincolnshire County Council had built the path, whether part or fully funded, it would have taken the shortest route - across the mouth of the roundabout.

“The trust felt this was unsafe,” said Barry.

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