Object

Representation ID: 6923

Received: 15/09/2021

Respondent: Bromham Parish Council

Locations for Growth
The consultation outlines a number of options for the focus of future development in the
period to 2040 and specifically identifies the need to build in the region of 12,500 new
dwellings over and above existing allocations during this period.
It is acknowledged that many of the consultation options recognise the importance of the
A421 corridor for future growth opportunities, recognising that the significant infrastructure
proposals will provide a well-connected, accessible and sustainable location for growth. The
Parish Council supports this approach and concurs that the A421 corridor is a significantly
better location for growth and better able to meet housing need. This will, in particular, help
maintain the character of the Great Ouse Valley, without the pressure of additional levels of
growth, thus making residents lives more miserable through increased traffic and pressure on
local services.
The Parish Council remains very keen to ensure that well respected and valued rural
communities in North Bedfordshire are not subjected to further inappropriate scale of
development given the inadequate infrastructure that exists to support growth, including the
already congested A6 infrastructure. The Parish Council, therefore, supports the removal of
new settlements identified in the north because the A6 would not be able to cope with the
additional traffic.
Further sizeable allocations in Key and Rural Service Centres, identified in some of the
consultation options, should be avoided. The Parish Council acknowledges, with
encouragement, that the report to the Executive did state that the Local Plan strategy must
recognise the significant contribution to growth that is already being provided in the
Borough’s larger villages (the Key and Rural Service Centres). As far as possible, the
emerging range of options steer additional growth away from villages that have a Local Plan

2030 allocation although the Parish Council is concerned that, for some options, additional
strategic development land may need to be allocated in those parishes. This is most
unacceptable as further growth in villages like Bromham would put unprecedented strain on
the local road networks. The inevitable rat runs through the villages would also be
compounded if unacceptable levels of growth were allocated in North Bedfordshire. The
A421 corridor, by contrast, represents a much better location for growth and must be
exploited.
In summary, opportunities for growth in the Oxford to Cambridge corridor must, therefore, be
exploited and the Parish Council supports development growth option 2(c).