Forum for residents of St Georges Park and Long Leys Road Lincoln

[GDStimson]

Hello all

Have come home from work today to find a small fleet of vans and trucks, and numerous workmen busy in the field on the "out-of-town" side of St Georges development - that's the one which is usually full of horses, towards the bypass.

Here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&ll=53.247139,-0.558157&spn=0.003942,0.007972&t=h&z=17&om=1

There are now five large areas of excavation which are fenced off with building site type wire mesh perimiter fence, carrying Lindum signs and notices for visitors to report to the site office (although I can't actually see one of those).

If I was being cynical, I'd guess these holes are exploratory work to assess the land for possible further development (in the designated greenbelt of course), but I've got no real idea.

As far as I know, LLRA have not been informed. Does anyone have any inside information on what's going on?

Regards
Gary

[john shipton]

Gary:

Residents who live in the West End of Lincoln reported to me a few months ago that workmen who were seen in Bakers Field, were boring holes to test water levels there.
This was done on Lincoln City Council land rented to Mr Arthur Baker, the owner of the horses grazing there.
Now this is interesting...for at the recent People's Panel which George W (member of WERA) and I attended, City Hall is proposing to spend £250,000 on a new buriel site for Lincoln. The main cemetary for Lincoln on the Washingborough Road is nearly full to capacity.
The Peoples Panel is part of the so-called consultation regarding budget cuts and where money from Council Tax is going to be spent.
WERA has a strong feeling that the new buriel site (a cemetary) could be the council land near St Georges Park. But officers at Lincoln City Council are not saying much.
Personally, I would prefer a cemetary rather than another housing estate.
It would be much quieter concerning noise and traffic. Dead people don't cause any trouble than the living. The only problem would be a few ghosts walking about!
Perhaps our local councillors could find out what is actually going on and confirm the likely outcome.
If it is another housing development involving Lincoln City Council and a planning application is forth coming in the pipeline, then a rally call should be made to local residents to resist this. There are a number of folk who would be prepared to declare war on City Council, if this happened.
Can you or the LLRA find out details as to what is going on with this land as well with the local councillors. For it appears that this has been going on for some time with land exploratiion!

[GDStimson]

John / all

I called Lindum about these works, but the person I was put through to did not know anything about them. However, he took my details and duly called back to tell me that they had simply supplied the fencing to Lincoln City Council.

I've emailed our local councillors for further information.

Will post here as and when information comes in.

Regards
Gary

[deb]

Gary/John will confirm but the exploratory work is indeed for a cemetery, confirmed by City Council.

[GDStimson]

Yes indeed, Deb.

The initial response I've had from Cllr Neil Murray is that a site on Long Leys Road is one of several possible locations being considered for a new cemetery, and what we're seeing is probably exploratory work in support of this. However, Neil stated that this initial response is subject to confirmation (next week).

John Shipton has also used his contacts in various council bodies to make parallel enquiries, and has been given information which very much supports the above.

I'm not totally sure that this represents "Confirmed by City Council" as yet (depending on the exact conversations John has had), but at least it's a big step in the right direction.

Regards
Gary

[deb]

Think that the work was confirmed as being for the cemetery NOT confirmed that it will BE a cemetery!!

[GDStimson]

Ah. Good point - Well made!

[SteveW]

Just a thought. Last time I had a nose around there I thought I saw Primroses growing, as they do in meadow land. If thats the case the area surely cannot be touched.

[john shipton]

Hi everyone;

In my telephone call to Lincoln City Council this aftrnoon, the journey was like going through a maze.
The first point of call was a connection to the Lincoln Crematorium where the member of staff knew about the situation off Long Leys Road but was not allowed to give details or make any comments.
I was then transferred to an officer at the Chief Executive whose response was that their department was not involved with the matter.
The staff member thought that Planning was the department in the know and I was transferred yet again for a planning officer to speak to me.
Ah! not to my surprise, it had nothing to do with Planning. The person I had to speak to worked in the Estates Department and was transferred to them.
But alas, it was not the Estates Department but another section called Property Management.
By that time I must have spent quite some time on my telephone, waiting to get out of the Lincoln City Council's maze.
And yes, I had reached the "Way Out" sign for Paul Clifton of Property Management was dealing with the matter.
First of all, the explanation was that the company which Gary mentioned, were drilling and looking at the archaeology of Bakers Field on behalf of City Hall. I had to press for information about the buriel site and the land becoming a cemetary. He realised that I knew quite alot which was going on behind the scenes.
And yes, what Gary and Deborah have said on this web site, he confirmed the story behind the story. He also mentioned that a local resident of St Georges Park called Tony Wilson, was looking after Mr Baker's interests being that the field/s were for grazing horses. Tony has been working voluntary for Arthur Baker for sometime. (Like myself, we both love horse riding when we can do so and are keen to keep horses on the West Common).
So this information from Lincoln City Council, comes straight from the horses mouth!
This land is part of several within the city of Lincoln boundary where City Hall is looking for a suitable site for a new cemetary.

[deb]

Perhaps if they were daisies Steve then the cemetery would be very likely.....!!If it becomes a cemetery it may well be all neat and tidy but I rather like the one at Burton Church. Apart from the view there are so many wild flowers you can't avoid treading on them - and hundreds of primroses.

[iggy]

i ask the following question in the past year the LLRA must have had i would surgest over 100- meetings/letters /phone or face to face contacts with local counclers / city hall officers and still nobody contacts the llra to tell them what is happening in the area BEFORE they start work .time for the 3 elected members to get the point over at city hall the way things should be done and infact the natives have the right to know what is happening in the VILLAGE before any work takes place on any land not just this piece of land

ps s plus point to any development on this site may be that if any lights are installed the light overspill my light up the steps. LOL

[deb]

Thing is nothing is going ahead at the moment. It was public knowledge that the land being surveyed was a possible cemetery site. If planning permission is sought then LLRA should be informed. Before that we cannot say 'no' to something that is not necessarily happening. Since it MAY, does anyone have anything to say? I will collect comments for and against. You can use PM if you'd rather.

[pete]

We live facing the field for the proposed graveyard. When we moved here we were told that the field was greenbelt and could never be built on or changed in any way.
We contacted the council after noticing activity in the field 6 months ago and were passed from pillar to post and got several different answers.
1: That field is greenbelt and can never ever be built on or changed in any way.
2: We are just having a little dig around to see where the best place is to have a cemetary.
3: They are probably putting some drainage in!
4: We are not aware of any activity in the field!

If we wanted to live facing a graveyard we would have bought a house facing a graveyard. How our children will sleep at night knowing there are graves and dead people in the field opposite is beyond me. It will scare the living daylights out of them.
If there was a graveyard put there, we would have not alternative but to move.
There are numerous species of wildlife in that field including badgers, foxes, barn owls that come to feed there, sparrow hawks and many many more. I always understood that some of these animals were protected by law.
We think this field should be left alone.
This is a strong NO objection to a graveyard or housing estate.

[iggy]

im with you pete it needs to be left alone


ps but can we have the lights and benches though

[ES]

I agree with Pete. The land is described as a green wedge, we need to protect it, and all its associated wildlife. I have seen foxes, badgers, tawny and barn owls.

One point to note is that the plans for my house were altered just before I signed contracts, my boundary which previously went up to the fence of the paddock changed to the end of my drive and I was told the council had adopted the strip of land next to the paddock. I would image they have done this to guarantee an access point, although I believe it would not be wide enough for full access.