Object

Representation ID: 5576

Received: 06/09/2021

Respondent: Mrs Julie Kilby

I object to the presentation of the 4 options in the summary leaflet that residents received regarding the draft plan. There is just one small statement saying that other options are available in the summary leaflet and we believe this is misleading – most people will only respond based on the summary document and are unlikely to look up the alternative options.

We also object in the strongest terms to the fact that Dennybrook (site 977) (land west of Wyboston) is presented as a development of only 2,500 homes and it is not made at all clear in the summary leaflet that this is the first phase of a large town of 10,800 homes.

A number of our residents have told us that they believe they have to choose from the 4 options and that they believe Dennybrook would remain a site of only 2,500 homes based on the information they have seen in the consultation. This demonstrates that it is misleading.

It is stated in the Council’s Draft Sustainability Appraisal, dated June 2021 (DSA) that all spatial options have been assessed. However, options 2b, 2c, and 2d clearly identify two new settlements. In order to fully consider the social, economical and environmental impacts associated with these two proposed settlements, their impacts need to be assessed separately and fed into the draft SA. At present, the options testing within the draft SA are not accurate as a result. Accordingly, Bedford Borough Council have not robustly assessed the options, and therefore have not adequately evaluated the likely significant effects on the environment, contrary to The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004.

I would like to request that the decision about which sites to choose for development be made at full council with Borough Councillors being given the opportunity to vote on it before it reaches the “is it sound and is it legal” stage of the plan – regulation 19. We would ask that the decision is therefore not made by the Mayor of Bedford’s executive powers. We would also like to request that, where a Borough Councillor is conflicted due to a conflict of interests, an alternative Borough Councillor representing the same party is permitted to vote on the matter in their stead. Our Borough Councillor Tom Wootton is conflicted regarding the proposed site at Dennybrook (site 977) and we would like Councillor Moon to vote in his stead.