Support

Representation ID: 7936

Received: 20/09/2021

Respondent: Pavenham Parish council

The Parish Council provided its comments on the Town Centre and retail policies at the time of the Borough Council’s last consultation. Those comments do not need to be reiterated at this juncture save to say that the Parish Council welcomes the Borough Council’s recognition that the Strategic Centre, i.e. Bedford Town, is in urgent need of regeneration and support. Out of town retail, the pandemic and on-line shopping have reduced Bedford Town centre to a shell of its former self and it is queried whether its character as a retail centre can ever be fully restored.
On that basis, the Parish Council would welcome any initiative which would render the town centre safe and pleasant and it does re-iterate that regeneration in the form of residential/hotel provision would offer a positive way forward.
The Parish Council would certainly support a “town centre first” approach as advocated by the NPPF.
In this context, in relation to proposed draft Policy TC2, the Parish Council would express some concern with regard to any policy that promotes new out of centre retail development and would support the conditionality requirements and thresholds. In addition, a shift back from out-of-town retail to town centre retail would be much more environmentally sustainable with more people able to walk and use public transport to access shops, etc.