Support

Representation ID: 7366

Received: 31/08/2021

Respondent: Lone Star Land

Agent: Pegasus Group

Pegasus Group are instructed by Lone Star Land Ltd ("Lone Star") to submit representations to the Regulation 18 consultation Bedford Local Plan 2040 (the "draft Plan").
Lone Star control 1.8 hectares of land south of Roxton Road in Great Barford (the "Site", or the "Lone Star Site" - see land control plan at Appendix A). The Lone Star Site has been assessed as part of the Council's Call for Sites, under site reference ID915.
Lone Star have been actively engaged with the local community and Great Barford Parish Council since acquiring an interest in the Site. In addition to maintaining a dialogue with Great Barford Parish Council's Neighbourhood Plan Sub-Committee, Lone Star have presented proposals for the Site to the local community via a website, the distribution of leaflets, an individual consultation event in October 2020 and participation at the "Meet the Developers" consultation event in November 2020. The Site is not allocated for development in the Made Neighbourhood Plan but did score well in the Parish Council's own assessment for deliverability.
Lone Star welcome the opportunity to engage further in the Local Plan process through these representations, having previously made representations to the now adopted Core Strategy and also having made submissions through the Council's Call for Sites.
The tests of soundness that Development Plans need to meet so as to be legally compliant and found sound, are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), paragraph 35:
• Positively prepared – providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet objectively assessed needs, and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and
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is consistent with achieving sustainable development;
• Justified – an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence;
• Effective – deliverable over the Plan period, and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground; and
• Consistent with national policy – enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the Framework.
These tests of soundness, along with other legal and procedural requirements associated with the Plan-making process provide a contextual framework for these representations.