Object

Representation ID: 8379

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Bedford Borough Councillor

We cannot support the idea that “most B1 development is likely to be within lower density business park sites”. Such developments are not compatible with sustainable transport modes – they are very rarely on bus routes, are not within walking distance of significant numbers of homes, and are rarely well integrated with cycle networks. As such, lower density business park sites are often only suitable for providing employment to the relatively privileged who can afford to run a car, and who do not have impairments that prevent them from driving.
Thus, lower density business park sites should only be built where workers can get to/from work using sustainable transport modes, and with car parking provision restricted to a level that is appropriate for sites where the majority of workers use sustainable transport modes. Since such sites would need less car-parking, their density would not be so low, and thus less land would be needed for such developments.
In 6.7 the consultation says “sites that are well connected to transport networks and the strategic road network in particular”. The road network must NOT be allowed to be taken as a proxy for “transport networks” in general. The council’s commitment to tackling climate breakdown cannot be met with the energy consumption associated with ever-larger scale use of cars to travel to work, regardless of the energy source used to power those cars.
The comment in 6.8 that “new allocations for large-scale warehousing are not appropriate” is very welcome. Not only is large-scale warehousing low-skilled, but it tends to be part of a shift to reduced employment in warehousing, with smaller warehouses being replaced with larger ones with less employees per square metre, and with greater use of road transport as vehicles travel further between a smaller number of larger warehouses.
Proposed policy E1S should be amended, since Policy 72S (of Bedford Local Plan 2030) in turn should be amended. Sites should not be considered appropriate if the range of transport modes does not include both public transport at relevant hours for employees and practical access at relevant hours for those using active transport to/from substantial concentrations of housing.