Support

Representation ID: 5663

Received: 07/09/2021

Respondent: Hallam Land Management

Agent: David Lock Associates

Hallam land Management considers that planning for the co-ordinated delivery of sites in and around the urban area and including the most immediate settlements such as Clapham, offers the potential to accommodate additional development that can support the co-ordinated improvement of existing infrastructure.
With much of the hard infrastructure in place Hallam envisages improvements involving enhancements to transport corridors into Bedford to the railway station to access East West Rail and the town centre to reinforce its vitality and vibrancy.
In the context of tackling climate change, locating new development in immediate settlements adjacent to Bedford offers the potential to create the critical mass necessary to support and enhance public transport services with increased frequencies to enable them to become modes of choice. Similarly, development can support investment in active travel infrastructure.
The co-ordinated growth of settlements within a ‘cycle-shed’ of Bedford, as a key part of the overall strategy provides an opportunity for capturing value from new developments alongside access to funding for sustainable transport infrastructure to invest in cycleways – including corridor improvements for continuous links (e.g. wider pavements, on road facilities). Such an approach would contribute significantly towards the England’s Economic Heartland’s Transport Strategy and align with Bedford Boroughs’ own transport principles – in terms of improving public transport networks and local connectivity and accessibility through active travel.
Hallam considers that the approach above further underpins the rationale (as argued by Hallam in its response to the Growth Strategy Options) for the Preferred Growth Option to include a Greater Bedford approach and as such modify the Bedford adjoining areas from an arbitrary limit of 0.5 miles from the urban area boundary to include the most immediate and well-connected adjacent settlements that would benefit from investment in public travel and active travel infrastructure.