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Representation ID: 7929

Received: 20/09/2021

Respondent: Pavenham Parish council

This response to Bedford Borough Council’s emerging Local Plan 2040 – Strategy Options and Draft Policies Consultation is submitted on behalf of Pavenham Parish Council.
The Parish Council would wish, at the outset, to record its thanks to the Borough Council for the extension in time granted so as to enable the Parish Council to formulate its response and in so doing, apologises that by reason of its late submission, it has not been possible to complete its submission on-line.
To place this response in context, it should be noted that the Parish Council is currently promoting its own Neighbourhood Plan. That Plan is now in an advanced stage – albeit awaiting final consultation and exhibition - and full account will be taken, insofar as is practicable and legally acceptable, of the Borough Council’s emerging Plan as it impacts on the Bedford Local Plan 2030 and the Parish.
The Parish Council recognises the very real challenges the Borough Council now faces in meeting the Government’s latest housing provision required target. The 33% housing provision uplift when compared with the locally-calculated housing growth which was planned for in the Local Plan 2030, (paragraph 1.11 of the Consultation Document) is recognised and the Parish Council’s comments on housing provision are made in the context of the Borough Council’s obligations.
In addition to this required substantial housing provision uplift are the challenges created by the Oxford to Cambridge Arc – the policies and proposals for which are at this stage, general in the extreme – the “Arc Spatial Framework” which is to a large extent dependent on the collaboration of all of the other local authorities within the Arc – whilst also having to deal with the challenge of a failing town centre and the long-lasting impact of the pandemic.
The Parish Council notes that the current updating exercise for the 2040 Plan is being undertaken in the context of the Local Plan 2030 which was only adopted last year. The Parish Council agrees that there is no need for a radical review of the extant Plan. That means, of course, that the final adopted Local Plan 2040 will constitute only a partial update of the 2030 Plan. The Parish Council hopes, however, that the final published version of the Local Plan 2040 will be produced as a single standalone document, as opposed to a Plan which cross references still current policies extant in the 2030 Plan, thereby effectively requiring a constant need for cross reference between two documents. Bearing in mind the growing list of related development control policy documents, a single comprehensive principal published Local Plan, containing new, updated and saved policies in one place would be far more “user-friendly” for the general public.
The final point that the Parish Council would wish to make in this introduction is that it has deliberately tried to avoid providing a NIMBY – “not in my back yard” response. That said, the Parish Council does note that some of the proposed shifts in policy, whilst small in number, may have far-reaching effects for the Parish and total objectivity may not always be possible.