Comment

Representation ID: 10095

Received: 28/07/2022

Respondent: Wilshamstead Parish Council

It is recognised by the Parish Council that development has to go somewhere in Bedford Borough but the policy of concentration of proposed development South of Bedford has to be accompanied by exhaustive investigation into, and subsequent close monitoring of, the infrastructure to support it.

At the moment the justification for development South of Bedford appears to be the future availability of Stewartby Hardwick and Wixams stations and the “easy” transport links to the A421.

However, the effect on A6 traffic has been poorly researched (e.g. it does not cover the increase in traffic likely from the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan which currently looks to be substantial in the northern part of that region) and the identified requirement for additional bus service, GPs, Primary and Secondary Schools and road improvements will require very substantial funding and, from experience at Wixams, unless very tightly monitored, will fail to meet the amounts required. This will result in compromises that will put extreme pressure on existing infrastructure which is already at capacity.

To concentrate on GP availability as one example : the GP to patient ratio is already extremely high. Wilstead Parish Council has attempted for 20 years to interest GP surgeries in the surrounding area to open new facilities in Wilstead or Wixams – without success. How it would be possible to recruit the 8 or more GPs required to support new developments in the Parish plus existing patients who can no longer be accommodated at the Ampthill surgeries due to Central Bedfordshire houses expansion is not explained.

In addition how is it planned to accommodate the extra traffic generated by the station at Wixams both in terms of existing road capacity and parking? Both are considered inadequate at present and will be made even worse by the proposed developments. Moreover, there have already been a number of children injured in the new Wixams development due to their existing issues with traffic. This remains a concern for the residents of Wilstead too, who already have a significant amount of through traffic coming from the A600 and which would likely increase with HOU17; people will most likely come through Wilstead and into Wixams for the new station as opposed to joining the A421 and the queues that already exist there at the Interchange intersection.

The new settlements proposed under different options of the draft Plan could have allowed for sufficient road infrastructure and parking from the start.