The first of several parks to be created at the new development village of Linmere next to Houghton Regis has opened to the public for the New Year.
Fencing has been removed from the three-acre Linmere Park South, providing access for Houghton Regis and Linmere residents - and anyone else living, working or relaxing in the area. The opening follows a programme to install new seating, plant 80 trees and create wildflower areas.
Linmere Park includes a 100-metre running track, a 500-metre perimeter track and a cycle pump track, designed for use by people of all abilities. The park has been created to ensure the space offers as much scope as possible for the widest number of people, with flexibility for all forms of informal sports use.
Green Park, next to Thornhill School, currently at the design stage, will offer sports pitches and games facilities, play areas and picnic spaces on 7.5 acres and is likely to open in 2023.
The parks make up around 90 of the 190 acres of natural habitat and green space at Linmere, all of which will be looked after by the national charity The Land Trust.
Community Ranger, Richard Eltringham will use his background in social and therapeutic horticulture to devise activities to help residents get out into nature.
Landscape architect Alex Comrie, director at Linmere's planning and design consultancy Barton Willmore, said: "Linmere is leading the way in putting landscaping first. It's a landscape-led development, with parks, open spaces and green corridors. We're taking a long-term view. It's not just something that we put on the master plan. We're creating a legacy that will be around for decades to come. As a landscape architect, I am always striving to do more to enhance biodiversity and the quality and beauty of green spaces."
In total, around 5,150 homes will be built over the next 15 years by the Linmere consortium, comprising master planners Lands Improvement, Aviva Investors, and the Diocese of St Albans.
Linmere will see the creation of two new state-of-the-art primary schools and an extension to Houghton Regis' existing Thornhill Primary School. A ten-form secondary school will open in 2022/3.
- The Linmere development is being brought forward by the Houghton Regis Management Consortium (HRMC), comprising Lands Improvement, Aviva Investors and the Diocese of St Albans.
- Outline planning consent was granted for the site in 2014, the initial application is still available on Central Bedfordshire Council's Planning Applications pages using reference CB/12/03613/OUT.
- Before the launch of the Linmere brand in May 2019, the development was previously known as HRN1
For further information visit https://www.linmere.com
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