Support

Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 5193

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Ian Francis

Representation Summary:

If a new settlement is required then Little Barford should be the preferred option as it is close to the East West rail
station. Dennybrook should be discounted because there is a risk of coalescence with St Neots, the local roads are
unsuitable, the traffic modelling was inadequate, it would engulf existing hamlets and fundamentally change the rural
nature of the parish, it would use high quality agricultural land and it is too far from the proposed E-W rail station to be
sustainable. Second choice option would be at Twinwoods as there is a significant proportion of brownfield land.

Full text:

Overall, the land west of Wyboston (Dennybrook) does not offer a truly sustainable form of development, and thereby
contrary to policies contained within the NPPF and of the Council’s adopted Local Plan. Accordingly, the proposed
new settlement should be discounted when considering sites for allocation going forward to the pre-submission draft
Local Plan.
If Little Barford is deemed unsuitable our second preferred option would be a new settlement of 2,500 homes at
Twinwoods or Colworth. I believe that the problems on the A6 north of Bedford are going to need to
be resolved anyway in order to support the housing development proposed in the 2030 plan and for residents to
access the east west rail station in the centre of the town. The development of a new settlement of up to
3,000 homes at Twinwoods (site 883) or Colworth (site 1002) could provide the infrastructure funding to support
improvements to the A6 which have long been needed and provide residents with access to the east west rail station
in Bedford. A northern parkway station could be considered in future to provide sustainable transport for those in the
north of the Borough. Twinwoods would include a significant proportion of brownfield land and Colworth includes
lower quality (grade 3) agricultural land and so would comply with the NPPF requirement to utilise brownfield land or
lower quality agricultural land before high quality agricultural land. These sites would also support Bedford Town
Centre. Colworth was the site supported in the 2035 plan which was later reviewed. The A6 was not a considered
sufficiently problematic to prevent this site being adopted so we find it hard to understand why the A6 is deemed such
an insurmountable problem now.