Site Assessment Pro Formas

Local Plan 2040 Site assessment pro formas

1. Alongside the 2020 issues and options consultation the Council invited landowners, developers and their consultants to submit information about sites that could be available to meet the borough's growth needs.
2. In response over 430 sites were submitted and information about them is published on the Council's website at https://www.bedford.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning-policy-its-purpose/local-plan-review/
3. The site selection process involves four stages to establish which sites best fit the local plan's strategy (when chosen) to provide a basis for making a decision about which sites should be allocated. The Council's thinking on where development might take place in the borough is set out in the Development Strategy Topic Paper. Further details of the way in which sites will be selected are given in the Housing & Employment Land Availability Assessment Methodology (HELAA) and the Site Selection Methodology, June 2021.
4. At this stage, factual and technical information is being gathered about the site submissions and it is important to note that this site assessment work is not yet complete. We have published where we have got to in relation to each site and this is recorded in a series of site pro formas which follow this section. You will see that the assessment criteria used come from the Site Selection Methodology (link above). It would be useful to have that document to hand when you read the assessments as it provides an explanation of the notation used (++, +, 0, ?, x, xx).
5. In relation to the historic environment and transport criteria there is additional detail available which you can look up – you will need to know the ID / number of the site you are interested in.

Historic Environment assessments

Transport access assessments

6. If you do not know the number of the site you are interested in, or if you are unsure where a site is located, please use the Council's interactive call for sites map in which you can search by parish or by site number (see top right of the map). You can also view the original site forms which now also include an additional tab called 'site assessment' which contains the assessment work completed to date. To access these, use the link at the bottom of each site assessment below – see ‘Original submission for form x’.
7. If you have any comments on the sites or the assessment that has been carried out to date, please let us know by attaching your comments to the individual site numbers (site ID) on the pro formas later in this document.
8. The assessment of sites is also available as a PDF document and you can use this if you prefer. Please make sure you give the site reference number if you choose this option and wish to comment on a site.
9. When added together, the sites which have been submitted for potential housing development total far more dwellings than need to be allocated in this plan, and therefore many of them will not be required for development. However, specific site allocations can only be fixed once consultation comments have been considered and the strategy is firmed up.