A SHORT HISTORY OF BOVISAND PARK ESTATE
Bovisand Park was born on 7 June 1983.
At least, that is when Bovisand Park Limited, the Company in which we are all equal shareholders, was formed. The conception of course was at an earlier date and resulted from a requirement by South Hams District Council who owned the land that such a Company be created to become the Lessee of Bovisand Estate. This was not the beginning of ‘Bovi’ which goes back much further and about which old Bovisanders know far more than me. But we have to start somewhere.
Some years before the Local Authority had decided that the site should be cleared as the individual Leases expired and this would have been the end of things for the existing chalet/bungalow/caravan owners. So, they formed a Tenants Association and lobbied the Local Authority (LA) who eventually offered a forty year lease subject to stringent conditions regarding the redevelopment of the estate. Not only did the LA have control over the design and appearance of the chalets through their Planning process but they also specified landscaping and planting. In addition they required that access by the general public to the land and beaches to the seaward side of the roadway be continued as did the provision of public toilets.
Despite these requirements, and a significant lack of money as a result of a Bank withdrawing a loan offer, the new Company with a fully constituted Board led by Tom Bignell and supported by the members pressed ahead with arranging planning approval and engaging contractors to clear and redevelop the site starting at West Point. This redevelopment is extremely well illustrated by a video produced by Messrs Beed and Newham who were local builders as well as chalet owners.
Following the early completion of the redevelopment by the mid-80s there was great demand for the chalets and whilst existing members of the Tenants Association received priority others were keen to buy into the new Bovisand Park. To discourage speculation a sales premium was imposed at the initial rate of £3000 (which was a significant part of the selling price in those days (!)) reducing over 5 years to the rate of £1000 which still applies today. The first purchasers did not even receive a fully equipped chalet as now but just the shell of the building for them to fit out internally themselves. That is why the internal layouts are different despite the basic footprints of the buildings having only two variants. As the Company only leased the land the new owners were issued with underleases and these are the model on which are present leases are based.
The next significant development came in July 1999 when a cash strapped Local Authority eventually offered the Freehold to our Company. This was a mixed blessing because whilst it assured the security of the Park forever it also transferred many responsibilities but, on balance, the ownership of the land outweighed other considerations because the end of the 40 year Lease was looming. Again there were strings attached in that the public access requirements mentioned above were retained but occupancy restrictions were also written into the Deeds. To compensate for these restrictions the price was reduced significantly (a local Estate Valuer reckoned we paid about 50% of the full value) and in those days we only had to pay 50% of the Annual Rates! Funding for this purchase came from the shareholders who each chipped in an equal share to finance the purchase and associated costs.
The Agreement to purchase was signed in July 1999 after which all leases were revised to 99 years from 1st June 2000 until 31 May 2099. As shareholders in the Company owning the Freehold it will be for those around as the end of the century approaches to decide the way forward after that.
As a precursor to the sale the Local Authority commissioned John Grimes Partnership to survey the cliffs where they were near the roadway and Civil Engineers were commissioned by them to put protective measures in place but once the sale was complete the responsibility for the maintenance fell to us and this, along with sea defences at the base of the cliffs, has been an ongoing priority.
At the same time as the purchase was being managed we were also facing a problem with sewage disposal. Originally two large septic tanks received the foul waste with the settled effluent being discharged into ‘herring bone’ pipes laid under the grassy areas. The Environment Agency found that this effluent was seeping through to the beaches and gave notice that we must install an effective sewage plant to overcome this problem. As we already had an outfall pipe at West Point which ended beyond the low water point and the land below the toilet block was lower than all the input points the site for the Sewage Processing Plant was decided to be there. The main problem was how to get the settled effluent from the ‘other side’ over there! The solution was to install a pipeline under the car park all the way to chalet 35 where it could meet the beginning of the system on that side of the Park and then gravity could do the rest. But it did mean installing a pumping station below the Toll Hut – the control panel is in that box that sticks up on the grass. This has now been in operation for many years and also requires regular servicing and maintenance.
There have since then been many minor evolutionary changes in response to changing needs. The most significant has probably been the outsourcing of the Car Park management which despite understandable initial concerns is generally regarded as beneficial – particularly the revenue generated.
And that brings us up to the end of 2021. Hopefully others will continue this story into the future and some might even contribute stories from the old Bovi which was around long before birth of the new Bovisand Park.
Peter Fielding
November 2021