Object

Representation ID: 4777

Received: 01/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Peter Solomon

I am a resident of Great Barford and would like to make this response to the consultation:
In the 2030 plan, we at Great Barford have already had 500 new dwellings imposed upon us - constituting an over 60% increase in the size of the village. This is a massive change to the village and its character and will probably be devastating to its rural aspect, as well as congesting its roads.
I would like to say that that is enough and that no further development at Great Barford should be envisaged in the plan - neither housing, nor industrial units. Neither should Great Barford be considered as a key service centre or similar - which would presumably bring with it further construction.

We have a town - Bedford, which has brownfield sites. These should be made priority for development. Some areas of Bedford are lower rise than they need to be - particularly in the town centre (e.g. round the bus station), where aspect would be enhanced by replacing the repulsive existing buildings around Church Square with taller nicer looking ones, for example. Developing within Bedford would be the greenest option, since greater population density in towns makes public transport more viable, and active travel is more possible where distances are shorter (i.e. in town). So I would make developing Bedford the first priority.
As a second priority, Rail-based development also makes environmental sense - so I would be in favour of extending Wixams to the railway and building the long awaited station there, and of development around Kempston Hardwick. A settlement south of St Neots where EWR will (Godwilling) cross the East Coast line could also make sense, but I would resist covering the countryside with new settlements - especially northwest of Bedford, where access by road to Bedford (or anywhere else) is difficult.
Hence I would support option 1 options most enthusiastically, and the option 2 options I would support, but less enthusiatically, while I reject and oppose all the others.
As you look towards future development and exploiting the advantages of rail - I would encourage you to also consider:
- Safeguarding the route of the old Bedford to Northampton line. Once EWR is in place, re-opening the line to Northampton would be the obvious next step.
- Reopening Sharnbrook and/or Oakley stations - there are enough people living there to deserve them, without any new settlements being needed to justify them.