Thank you for taking part in this survey of Brickhill residents. Waveney Green is a green lung for Brickhill, a place for casual recreation and part of many residents daily lives. Unfortunately, a number of unauthorised encampments have taken place on Waveney Green over the years, most recently in 2023. Brickhill Parish Council is asking for your views on possible steps to reduce the likelihood of this happening again.

The majority of large open spaces in the Bedford urban area have protective measures put in place (combinations of shallow ditches, low mounds and bollards), leaving Waveney Green as an exception. Even though Waveney Green is covered by an injunction, which aims to prevent unauthorised encampments, it typically still takes several days for encampments to be removed, after which the site is left with human excrement and other waste. The cost of clean-up has been covered by the Borough Council in the past, but this may not be the case next time.

There are a number of options for creating protective measures.

The tarmac paths through Waveney Green would not be affected by the proposals, while authorised vehicles will also be able to access the Green. Small gaps in the protective measures would be left, to allow people on foot to easily enter and leave the green as now, but in fewer locations.

More information, including maps and photos, is available on the website of Brickhill Parish Council here.

Please take a few minutes to help us. To enable the parish council to summarise views, we’ve included a number of different questions, including some questions where you can add your views in your own words. These will be considered at the meeting of the parish council on 2nd April.

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* 1. Your contact information

All responses will be kept in confidence, in accordance with Brickhill Parish Council's Privacy Notice.
The parish council has received two quotations for this work, which use different ways of achieving the desired result.

The first is for low mounds (about 60cm high), excavated from a trench immediately in front. There would also be 27 metal bollards installed, to show crossing points into the green and prevent illegal vehicular access. Lockable bollards would be used to enable authorised vehicles to enter. The price quoted is approximately £11,000.

The second is for 370 steel posts to be concreted into the ground, with 5 metal lockable drop-down bollards to enable authorised vehicles to enter. The price quoted is approximately £47,000.

It would be possible to adopt a combination of the above two approaches, which is likely to result in a cost somewhere between the two extremes. There is no point however in taking any action unless the whole green is protected.

In the question below another option given is to simply create a shallow ditch, instead of a ditch and mound (this is similar to the protective measures taken at the top of Brickhill Drive, by Foster's Brow).

No work would be carried out until after checking for any underground services, to ensure no damage is caused to cables or pipes.

The above quotations are the known costs so far. It is possible that other costs could emerge. The impact on the maintenance costs for Waveney Green are not known (e.g. grass cutting).

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* 2. Your views on the approach for the roads around Waveney Green

  Leave as it is Mostly shallow ditch (with some posts) Mostly posts (with some shallow ditches/mounds) Mostly shallow trenches and low mounds (with some posts) All posts No opinion
Avon Drive
Falcon Avenue
Dove Road
Waveney Green
Francis Groves Close
Now please give your opinion on the overall suggestion.

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* 3. Overall view of the proposal

If you walk across on Waveney Green (apart from the tarmac paths), are there any specific places where you would like access to the green to be retained? The aim is to allow residents to access the green without having to climb over mounds or scramble across ditches.

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* 4. Are there any specific places where easy pedestrian access should be kept?

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* 5. Do you have any other comments?

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* 6. Please tick if you want to be sent a copy of the results of the questionnaire.

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* 7. Please tick if you wish to receive future updates from Brickhill Parish Council on other topics.

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