Object

Representation ID: 6388

Received: 13/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Humphrey Chetwynd-Talbot

I am responding to the above consultation, in which four proposals for housing development are outlined. I am outlining my key reasons
for objecting to the Dennybrook Garden Village Site ID 977
and proposing that Little Barford (site ID 907), Twinwoods (site ID 883 ) or Colworth (site ID 1002) would be better, more suitable and sustainable alternatives.
1. Inappropriate and Inaccurate Disclosure
I have lived in Staploe Parish for over 30 years and most of the planning applications of which I have been aware have been rejected because Staploe is designated open countryside. Bedford Borough Council’s options paper in August 2020 for some, unexplained reason, designated most of Staploe parish as a brown option, rendering it appropriate for urban development. There are no brownfield sites in this parish and this misrepresentation should be explained and should render the formal consultation invalid. In the future, greenfield sites will be increasingly important for food production and to combat climate change and should be valued as such.

2. Destruction of Greenfield Site
Most of the land covered by the Parish of Staploe is Grade 2 agricultural land as identified by the Agricultural Land Classification. Paragraph 174 (b) of the NPPF makes clear that planning policies should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by: “recognising the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside, and the wider benefits from natural capital and ecosystem services – including the economic and other benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land, and of trees and woodland…”. and that “where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality”.
Grade 2 agricultural land is considered to be the best and most versatile agricultural land so constructing Dennybrook would be contravening Government Planning Policy which requires that brownfield sites be selected as a much greater priority than greenfield sites.

3. Poor Local Road Infrastructure
The road infrastructure is totally inappropriate to sustain a significant increase in volume of traffic; the southerly exit from Dennybrook is ¾ mile from the A1/A421 junction and there is likely to be significant disruption in the next ten years with the A428 dualling and alterations to the Black Cat roundabout layout. The northern exit would be on to the Bushmead Road. This is already a dangerous road, which is prone to flooding and enters a residential area in St Neots with a school and traffic-calming measures. Anyone living nearby knows that traffic congestion is significant, particularly at rush-hour and at the start and end of the school day.
Most of the roads inside the parish and going towards Bedford and villages to the west are single track, many with high verges and poor visibility. Many of them are designated as unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles. Verges have been nurtured as nature reserves over the years and are highly valued wildlife habitats. Bath asparagus, small eggar moths, sulphur clover, crested cow wheat and orchids grow along the verges and red kites, corn buntings, badgers, owls, egrets, skylarks and dragon flies are frequently seen in the lanes. The peace and tranquillity of the roads is appreciated by walkers, horse-riders and cyclists.
The transport model used by AECOM has significantly under-valued the number of vehicle trips and Dennybrook is too far from the proposed new East/West railway station or St Neots station to avoid a significant increase in car-use.

4. Town Centre Appropriation
Those of us living in the parish know that we are between 8 and 13 miles from Bedford and “out of sight, out of mind”. Dennybrook residents would look to St Neots and not Bedford for shopping and business-access, negating any valued of the development to Bedford and Bedford town centre and putting significant strain on already overstretched resources in St Neots.

5. Flooding
There are several water courses which feed into the River Ouse just upstream of St Neots from the Dennybrook area. There is regular flooding in several sites in the parish when we have heavy rainfall and St Neots had significant flooding in August and December 2020. The risk of flooding will be compounded with housing development, and an increase in surface-water drainage would further increase this flood-risk in both St Neots and Honeydon.

6. Listed Buildings and Areas of Importance
Buildings which would be affected by this development include Grade 1 listed St Denys Church Colmworth, Grade 2 listed Chestnuts and Dairy farm Cottage, Honeydon, Tythe Farm, Manor Farm and the Old Chapel.

Preferred choices of options
The consultation asks for suggested preferred options, including other alternatives not included in the consultation:

Option 2a: Proven Most Suitable Alternative
Bedford Borough Council’s own sustainability appraisals demonstrated and concluded that the alternative Option 2a is the preferred and most suitable option because urban development is more sustainable than rural.
Importantly, development within urban areas performed best particularly in reducing carbon emissions, promoting town centres (which incidentally are in decline), encouraging physical activity, delivering residents’ needs, access to community services (which are so important to mental wellness) and reducing the need to travel and promoting sustainable types of travel. New stations south of Bedford are planned and the A421 has capacity for additional traffic.
Option 2b: Alternative Preference
Of the other options that have been presented in the consultation Little Barford (site ID 907 – option 2b) is by far the most appropriate alternative, but excluding Wyboston / Dennybrook, which would provide additional 3,085 dwellings in the rail corridor, for the following reasons:
• A development in and around the urban area plus A1 and A421 transport corridor with rail-based growth parishes
• Access to a large number of services and facilities including existing employment which would reduce the need to travel by car
Further Alternatives Not Proposed in the Consultation – Twinwoods (site ID 833) or Colworth (site ID 1002)
A new development of up to 3,000 homes at Twinwoods (site ID 883) or Colworth (site ID 1002) could provide the infrastructure funding to support improvements to the A6 which has been needed for some time to provide residents with access to the east west rail station in Bedford. A northern parkway station or guided busway could be considered in the future to provide sustainable transport for those in the north of the Borough.
Twinwoods (site ID 883) would provide a significant proportion of brownfield land and Colworth (site ID 1002), which was supported in the 2035 plan, includes lower quality grade 3 agricultural land and so would comply with the NPPF requirement to use brownfield land or lower quality agricultural land before high quality agricultural land. These sites would also support Bedford Town Centre.
On these grounds alone, as a further alternative to Dennybrook or even an urban development, the brownfield site on Twinwoods is much more suitable particularly as:
• It does not flood
• It has no major watercourses and is distinct from other settlements – so no loss of identity for existing settlements
• Government planning policy seeks to develop brownfield land ahead of greenfield land (open countryside)

In conclusion, the proposed site at Dennybrook falls mostly within the Parish of Staploe. The parish is entirely rural with many narrow, single-track roads and no settlement policy area. The proposed site would destroy the hamlets of Begwary and Honeydon. It is interesting that there have been no proposed incremental benefits to any of the existing villages. The site is all on grade 2 (high quality) agricultural land and is highly valued for its peace, quiet, open countryside views and rural setting by its residents as evidenced by a Neighbourhood Plan survey conducted in early 2021. Accordingly, and for the reasons outlined, the proposed new settlement should be discounted when considering sites for allocation going forward to the pre-submission draft Local Plan.