Object

Representation ID: 10129

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Miss Anna Skoyles

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

I object to the plan for 1800 new homes in ‘east Wixams’. The proposed development is not actually in Wixams but in the parish of Wilstead.
There is a valuable greenfield site that separates Wilstead and the Wixams. This needs to be kept so that the Wilstead and Wixams do not merge in to one huge residential area with no green spaces. The areas of Kempston Hardwick, Shortstown, Wilstead, Wixams and possibly Houghton Conquest would just be one huge development with no countryside.
There is currently no doctors surgery in Wilstead or Wixams and the plan does not include any plan for this.
The A6 is an very busy road already, particularly during rush hours and school runs times. This causes a jam on the road heading in to Bedford by Cow Bridge traffic lights, sometimes as far back as the turn for Elstow at the A6 roundabout. Getting out of Wilstead on to the A6 by car is very difficult with constant traffic on the A6, the proposed development would increase traffic and make this issue much worse. Plus, there will be even more pollution from more road use, adding to climate change and lessoning air quality for Wilstead residents.
Wilstead is already used as a commuter through road, with speeding cars on A6 and A600 and there is an issue of daily on street parking, on Cotton End Road in particular, where cars park on the blind bend causing an obstruction. This proposed development would make things much worse. Cars and other larger vehicles speed through the main roads in Wilstead every day, causing noise, pollution and traffic problems.
Wilstead should not be designated as a KSC but as a rural service centre. the data used for Wilstead’s rating is very outdated e.g. there is just one shop/post office, no GP surgery, the number of residents is overstated and Wilstead has very little public transport with no buses running on Cotton End Road and only 2 an hour from Luton Road.
Nowhere else in the borough are there 2 KSCs in such close proximity to each other. The 1800 proposed new houses are planned to be built very near to a new wood that has been created near Duck End Lane, Wilstead and this would interfere with the peaceful nature intended by planting a new woodland.