Sovereign Grange street name

[Rob. M]

The September Parish Council meeting welcomed Persimmon adopting the PC's suggested King's Cliffe Forest tree names for the new roads. The suggestion stemmed from the proximity of the new houses to the woods, their link with nearby existing roads like Wood Road and Forest Approach and KC's Rockingham Forest heritage. My feeling is that while this is good, Oak 'Street' is not ideal for the access road leading through the open aspect of the green, to the main housing estate. 'Street' is generally accepted as, 'a public thoroughfare in a town or city' - far from the tranquil rural location the new develpment is being marketed as. Seems to me that Oak 'Rise' or similar might be better, echoing Daleswodd 'Rise' too, a name that suggests the terrain as it climbs the same slope from another direction. Bridge Street, Park Street and West Street are ancient names dating from the time that KC was a town that even rivalled Stamford and they seem to have earned their titles as 'streets'. What do you think? One final thing - the Sovereign Grange promotional website states that King's Cliffe is five miles from Peteroborough. Brilliant as this immediately saves drive time and fuel!   

[HilaryB]

Some mind reading/telepathy going on here; councillors please check your e-mails; have just written to you all regarding this!

[Russell Brown]

For everyone's info:  the PC wanted to change 'Oak Street' to 'Oak Lane', former having been chosen by ENC, but there was going to be a charge of £100 for doing this. However, thanks to the sterling efforts of the PC's Clerk, the name was changed and the charge waived.

Well done Hilary 

[HilaryB]

Thanks you Russell - a little praise goes a long way, but I can't get my pith helmet on now and  I'll get heatstroke out in the bush when I go on my joillidays

[Lummers]

I think Oak Lane would be well suited to the road with the (very few) affordable houses.
As to the rest, well who do I make the cheque out to - ENC?
At £100 a pop I'd like to change 3 road names. The access road I'd like to call 'Congestion Avenue' as befits the extra 300 cars that will be up and down it every day. At the very top end I'd like to name a road 'Blot on the Landscape Heights' as I have already determined it will spoil one of my favourite views of Kings Cliffe (coming down from the claypits and looking north over the village past the church). Finally I think we should have a 'Flood Lane' coz we're bound to get one. So that's £300 in total and don't worry about getting the charge waived - I'm happy to pay for such apt names Whilst we're at it is there a price for changing the development name? I'd like 'Unwanted' instead of 'Sovereign'.
Gosh, I'm really having fun on here today

[HilaryB]

Although I am supposed to be completely impartial - everyone knows my views on "Sovereign Grange", (have been told regularly my mouth will be my downfall in all matters ) I questioned the damn silly name, which is alledgedly derived from Kings Cliffe - don't want it, don't need it, can't ever see it being part of the village - but thanks to John Prescott and others, we have got it!  Only good thing is the agreed play area for children adjacent to the Club, which has been needed forever, or at least since I was a toddler in the Dark Ages!

[Rob. M]

Enjoyed your comments. Many would agree. The density of the new housing is a disaster and typifies current new housing developments on the edge of towns, instead of suiting the village. But we must now make the best of it. Regarding increased vehicular traffic I feel that planning permission for the new housing ought to have been dependant upon first creating a new footpath between Wood Road and West Street. Opportunities for such a path were seemingly overlooked. A pedestrian 'short cut' would help to minimise the number cars visiting West Street. 'Sovereign Grange' is a marketing name that will (hopefully!) be dropped later. One would think that it would actually turn potential house buyers away. Do you think it's likely that the new residents will stump up dosh to rename 'Cliffe - Sovereign Grange?! Of more concern, there seems to be an undercurrent in and around the village that says King's Cliffe must grow in order to survive. What size do we wish to grow to?       

[HilaryB]

Sadly - all the old shortcuts, when I was young, there were 6 which were regularly used, from Wood Road to West Street disappeared years ago - before this development was dreamed up and the owners of the last few would never have consented to it happening.  It was a annual ritual to shut the gates or block access for one day a year, which alledgely stopped it being a public right of way.

[Lummers]

OK, so my first attempt at posting pics has already been thwarted by the postage stamp size allowance on the site so I'm trying again with much reduced photo pixels.
This is one of my favourite views of Cliffe, taken coming down the path from the clay pits towards the mill. It was taken during our beautiful spring earlier this year. By next spring I guess the entire area behind the church spire will be well on the way to becoming new houses 

[Lummers]

...and just to confirm the point - slightly different path/view but taken today during our unseasonally beautiful autumn coming down towards Moorhay by Wayne's chickens. The JCBs hard at work!! 
(Hope you can spot them as the pic is so small)

[Lummers]

...and learning all the time I just realised that if you click on the pics they enlarge! Resolution is still limited but you can at least see what's going on.

[Rob. M]

Re. the old shortcuts.
' before this development was dreamed up and the owners of the last few would never have consented to it happening '.
May be not, but were they ever asked?
Authorities can use compulsory purchase to benefit the greater community in planning matters. Am told that part of one old short cut still exists. Restoring or completing it might not be impossible.       

[Rob. M]

'..and learning all the time I just realised that if you click on the pics they enlarge! Resolution is still limited but you can at least see what's going on.'

Didn't enlarge for me. Still have learning to do!:)  Great views from up there though - at least, used to be. Always understood that the roofline of the new housing was to be kept below the top of the hedge that borders the railway cutting. But this seems extremely unlikely even with the unsightly trend of omitting chimneys from houses. I would prefer decently proportioned chimneys breaking the skyline rather than chimney less roofs. But would have prefered far fewer houses lower down on the site - wouldn't we all

[Russell Brown]

...and learning all the time I just realised that if you click on the pics they enlarge! Resolution is still limited but you can at least see what's going on.

I've just upped the limit to 10Mb per picture and a total of 20Mb per post (two 10Mb pics or four 5mb ones). I've also doubled the size of the clickable thumbnails shown below the posts.

[Ascension]

Rob. M mentions that some people have the idea that King's Cliffe must grow in order to survive.

My first question for people who seek developments like the sports centre, tarmacking Church Walk etc, is: "What do they want Kings Cliffe to get out of it?" Do they want to turn KC into a town? What's next - roundabouts and traffic lights?
 
Once this is established we can ask the second question, "Is it worth it?" Will people want to come to live next to a nuclear dump? Is it worth the drop in house prices for the villagers? Is it worth having a cancer cluster?