Object

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

Representation ID: 6357

Received: 10/09/2021

Respondent: Bidwells

Agent: Bidwells

Representation Summary:

Bedford Borough sits in a key central area of the Oxford to Cambridge Arc and as such the Council will need to ensure that the level of growth that is planned for is in line with wider aspirations for the area. For the economic benefits of the Arc are to be realised, it is likely that additional housing will be required to support a growing working age population. Should this housing not come forward alongside the anticipated economic growth, it may have knock on impacts for existing residents in terms of increased house prices and worsening affordability.
Therefore, Taylor Wimpey stress the need to plan for flexibility and contingency and for the broader long-term economic aspirations for growth in the area when setting the housing requirement for Bedford Borough.

The Government’s wider economic growth aspirations for the Oxford to Cambridge Arc and the potential uplift in housing need that this will result in should be thoroughly considered, and it is important to note in relation to this that the standard methodology housing requirement is a minimum figure.