Elstow Garden Villages - Answer to Population Crisis or Disaster to Local Wildlife?

University Degree Architecture, Building and Planning

Elstow Garden Villages

Answer to Population Crisis

or Disaster to Local Wildlife?

Intro

The Ever increasing population of East Anglia can be seen as a good thing, the local economy is benefiting and Property developers are making more money than ever before. But not everybody sees this as a beneficial factor to the area. The rise in property prices is forcing some local people out of the area to seek cheaper land prices. The reason for the rise in housing prices and for the increase of people moving to the area is London. People are both moving further away from and closer to London and settling in East Anglia.

The appeal of living in such an area is the ability to commute to London. Most of East Anglia is within 1 hours travel by train which gives people the opportunity to work in London and receive the benefits of a large wage, yet avoid the hassle and stress of living in the city. Yet with all this attraction, housing demand has risen dramatically and the government wants over 500,000 new houses built within 15 years. Many towns and villages are expanding but will struggle to cope because of a lack in facilities. One area struggling the most is Bedfordshire.

For Bedfordshire to keep to John Prescott’s plans a total of 2430 new homes are needed a year in the county. Not only this but in order to keep to agenda 21, a variety of sustainable housing needs to be developed. This also requires houses to be energy efficient and at least 25% ‘affordable housing’. To cope with all this it was decided that whereas all other towns and villages in Bedfordshire will still need development, the only way to cope with the housing development was to build a completely new town or area. The plan drawn up was ...

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Plans

The Elstow Garden Villages are four different villages built around a new town centre taking up over a million square feet and with a total of 7500 new homes. It is to be located three miles south of Bedford on an old industrial site. It will feature a business park, a train station linking the village to London via the Themes Link, as well as a full range of social and community facilities. 233 acres of open space and parkland are planned so the area doesn’t feel urbanised and city-like.

Development Framework

Locating the Town centre at the heart of the development and smaller high streets within each village ensures that mixed uses are accessible to all. Re-aligning the A6 provides two new ‘gateways’ to the settlement that connect directly to the town centre and onto a new railway station. Sustainable and energy efficient movement networks, which prioritise safe pedestrian and cycle movements as well as public transport use.

Village facilities

Village 1 – Eastern village, first to be built, has its own park, lake lower and middle schools

Village 2 – Upper school and lower school

Village 3 – Market square

Village 4 – Westernmost village, includes the station

The incorporation of agenda 21 means that priorities are for, recreation, health, transport and education.

Energy

To be energy efficient plans have been made for houses to have solar panels on their roofs and wind towers have also been considered but are unlikely to be built as they may deter people and spoil the landscape. People will be encouraged to re-cycle and the bricks used to build will be supplied by the local brickworks in Bedford.

Problems & Criticism of the Plans

Although a lot of work has clearly gone into the plans for Elstow Garden Villages, to make them appealable, environmentally friendly and affordable not everyone has been impressed. Ecologists are worried about wildlife. Despite many plans being made for many lakes and woodland areas for wildlife habitats, it is not the areas to be set aside that is the worry it’s the ones to be developed. Plans for a lake containing the rare ruttfish to be filled in have appalled many wildlife lovers.

The land was not completely uninhabited before the plans for Elstow were made either. Several houses are to be destroyed to make way for new development as well as a business park being told to move out and not being allowed to use the new Business Park being built. These people feel they have been treated unfairly and unreasonably by the developers, particularly the homeowners who are to see their homes, some of which have been there for decades destroyed to make way for newer housing rather than incorporated into the new villages.

Another huge problem is with the plans for the new station. Thames Link was not informed of the plans for a new station on their line and have responded by stating that no new stops will be allowed. This is a big worry for the developers as if there is no station there will be no easy way for people to commute. If people cannot commute then all the villages will lose appeal and people may not be willing to pay as much for housing.

Over all I feel that much of the planning that’s gone into Elstow Garden Villages has been done well and that as long as the dispute with Thames Link can be resolved then I see no reason why the plan cannot be a complete success. It is a shame that some houses may have to be destroyed and a lake containing ruttfish may be filled in but the benefits outweigh the problems and when you look at the success of similar projects like Milton Keynes and Letchworth Garden City, the prospect of an even better area being developed are very interesting.