Wixams Town Centre
Community Engagement
Wixams is a new community well situated 3 miles to the south of Bedford, set centrally between the A1 and M1 corridors. From the new proposed Wixams Railway Station it is a 50 minute journey to London St Pancras.
Wixams History
Community Engagement
LSP Developments have been appointed by L&Q Estates to develop the ‘Town Centre’ for Wixams, which will comprise 4 villages, providing up to 4,500 houses. Village One is complete, with Villages Two and Four under construction. There are in excess of 1,800 completions across the aforementioned villages, with further plots sold in Village Three. Indeed, further residential schemes are planned to the south and eastern sides of Wixams, which could take housing numbers beyond 8000.
Wixams already includes for a large employment area, two primary schools and a secondary school, together with a small retail local centre in Village One, which includes for the Lakeview Village Centre. A new railway station is planned to be complete by Winter 2024 providing direct access to London. The Town Centre will sit at the epicentre of Wixams, adjacent to the new ‘Town Park’, which is currently under construction and another primary school to the west of the centre.
The Village Story
Since the grant of planning in 2007, the last 13 years have seen a massive investment in the infrastructure necessary to enable the derelict, contaminated site to be made suitable for development.
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Enabling Works
To date L&Q Estates investment has secured:
- DEMOLITION - the removal of over 130 buildings.
- REMEDIATION - the removal of 5,000m3 of grossly contaminated soils.
- EARTHWORKS - the movement of over 3 million m3 of earth around the site to provide usable development parcels.
- A6 REALIGNMENT - 3km of new dual carriageway.
- ROADS/DRAINING - over 15km of new internal residential roads and streets.
- EDUCATION - 2 primary and 1 secondary schools.
- SERVICES - upgraded gas, water, electricity and communications.
- LANDSCAPING - to date over 300 acres of landscaped open-space, drainage corridors, play and sports facilities.
All of these have been provided and managed by L&Q Estates in-house construction team. The value of the works to date are in excess of £200m.
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Community
The concept for Wixams was inspired by a modern interpretation of the design approach of Ebeneezer Howard’s Garden City Movement, where open space and landscape work together with buildings to create distinctive places.
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Education
Providing high quality educational learning opportunities to young people within Wixams was always a key driver to the development of the new settlement.
To date, L&Q Estates have funded or delivered the following:- LAKEVIEW PRIMARY SCHOOL - 2012 and rated OFSTED excellent.
- WIXAM TREE PRIMARY - 2017
- LAKEVIEW DAY NURSERY - 2018
- WIXAMS ACADEMY SENIOR - 2018
Providing education from early years to sixth form, all within the boundary of Wixams.
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Ponds & Lakes
Historically, Bedfordshire has been home to the British brick industry. The plentiful raw material saw the extraction of clay by open cast quarrying over much of the immediate area. To reflect this heritage, Wixams has embraced water and lakes as a key element of its landscape strategy.
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Sport & Play
To create a distinct sense of place and a range of individual characters to the play areas, each area has been designed around a particular theme, including ‘Construction Play’ in the Village Park North, ‘Treasure Island’ in the main play area adjacent the central square and lake and ‘Woodland Play’ in the recreational cluster located at the heart of Greenway B.
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Commercial
The movement away from office parks and manufacturing to warehouse and distribution has been generated by the increase in online shopping.
The original Wixams masterplan highlighted areas of employment use and this space was sufficiently flexible to accommodate the need for high quality distribution uses, such as those currently under construction.
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The Future
With housebuilding well underway and over 1,600 houses now occupied, L&Q Estates focus has moved towards providing those facilities needed to support the new settlement.
Running a housebuilder business is primarily about delivery, L&Q Estates offer land parcels that are oven ready with major infrastructure, services and place making (community benefits, schools, open space etc) all in place. Planning risk is reduced through the detailed work done up front...allowing housebuilders to focus on building ‘just homes’...These oven ready sites area must for a housebuilder business
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Location Plan
The plan shows Wixams in relation to Bedford and the surrounding road network.
Wixams Location Plan
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Engagement Boards
Further information on the Wixams Town Centre & Community Hub proposals
WIXAMS public consultation boards Combined compressed
Wixams History
Community Engagement
It is proposed that the ‘Town Centre’ will sit at the heart of the community providing a real ‘sense of place’. A wide range of uses are being considered to create a truly vibrant centre, appealing to all age groups. Such uses to include; a food store, a range of local retail and health uses, doctors surgery, children’s day nursery, restaurants and pub, coffee shop and care home. At the heart of the centre will be a large Community Hub providing a range of amenities, accessed off a pedestrianised ‘Town Square’, which will facilitate community events.
Latest Phase at Wixams Development
Wixams Development
Wixams Housing 1
Wixams Housing 2
Wixams Housing 3
Wixams Academy
Wixams Playpark
Public Realm 1
Public Realm 2
Public Realm 3
Community Exterior 1
Community Exterior 2
Community Interior 1
Community Interior 2
GP 1
GP 2Wixams History
Community Engagement
The ’Town Centre’ will be well massed with buildings up to 3 storeys, of high design quality and incorporating strong public realm, to include the ‘Wixams Wall’, providing the history to the site. It will be extremely well accessed by foot, cycle, car and bus, with appropriate cycle racks and parking to allow for school ‘drop off’. The highways plan gives an indication of how the Town Centre will be accessed by all modes of transport.