Housing
Alongside the community hub, the proposals include 79 new homes comprising 2-5 bedroom houses and 1 and 2 bedroom apartments.
These new homes will form an enabling development, ensuring the new community hub and all its community-wide benefits can be delivered by Grace, which is a registered charity.
Why is an ‘enabling development’ needed?
An enabling development facilitates or ‘enables’ the delivery of a required facility or ‘use’ that otherwise could not viably be provided on its own.
Grace will generate a proportion of the development cost through the generosity of the congregation and fund raising, however it will not be possible to fund such a significant project solely through this method. An enabling development of 79 new, sustainable homes is therefore needed to generate sufficient capital to fund the new community hub.
Grace would commit to a legal agreement with Bedford Borough Council requiring the community hub to be built as part of any planning consent for the enabling development.
Proposed community meadow
A New Community Meadow
Central to our vision for the site will be a new, high quality community meadow, orchard, and play space, all located by the River Great Ouse.
The meadow also features landscaped sustainable drainage features including an ecology and attenuation pond, to improve the management of surface water drainage on the site and provide valuable new habitats.
Securing public access, retaining walking routes, and protecting ecology
Up to the end of March last year, the site was categorised as farmland managed under a Government Stewardship scheme. Public access was permitted under this scheme, however there are no formal rights of access.
Grace knows that the land is used by local people for informal access and dog walking. Our vision would allow this public access to be formalised and enhanced through:
Retaining Lady’s Walk, running north-south through the site, and respecting Church Walk/ The Causeway that runs along the northern boundary of the site.
Retaining established walking routes and creating additional, attractive walking routes across the site to allow access for all, including those with disabilities
Protecting biodiversity, avoiding development on ecologically sensitive areas, and introducing a variety of new habitats through a comprehensive and sensitively designed landscaped masterplan.
Furthermore, the proposed community hub and enabling development have been located to retain and maximise open views across the Site, providing an attractive, high quality and appealing riverside location for the local community to live, visit and use for recreation.’
Illustrative visualisation of proposed community hub
Together Bedford Borough: Developing urban and rural places and enriching the local environment
In Bedford Borough Council’s new Together Bedford Borough Corporate Plan, developing urban and rural places and enriching the local environment are strategic priorities. As the corporate plan makes clear, ‘Parks and open spaces are vital to our physical and mental health.’
A key measure in the corporate plan for developing urban and rural places is rights of way. The Riverside Meadow scheme will enhance access to the River Great Ouse for all members of the public.
Biodiversity and quality of life are key measures for enriching the local environment. The proposed meadow and orchard will provide high quality green spaces and enhanced biodiversity that benefit both people and nature.
Furthermore, the enabling development will make a vital contribution towards local housing supply, providing homes for local families in an attractive green, open setting.
“Grace in the Community offers far reaching support to many different groups in Kempston through an extensive programme of support groups, workshops and personalised help.
As Government agencies and Local Authority Services have been cut, Grace in The Community has stepped in to provide invaluable support to vulnerable groups and individuals through the Net, Well Woman Workshop, Tik Taks Kids Clubs and The Shed, to name a few!
If the new community building is approved, this essential work, vital to the wellbeing of so many people in Kempston and the surrounding areas, can continue, develop and reach and support more people, to improve their lives and the situations that they find themselves in.”