Support

Representation ID: 8512

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Bedfordshire Police

It is stated that 25,500 dwellings will be required for the period 2020 to 2040, of which 12,500 will need
to be provided by the new Local Plan.
Much of the development will be on open fields, which by definition place little demand on the police
and other emergency services. By contrast, once the population is living at these sites, there will be
significant and on-going demands upon the emergency services permanently.
When looked at from purely a policing perspective, there will be a very big increase (relative to current
rates) in crime and demand (comparable with existing rates in the Borough) from new residents for
policing services across a wide spectrum of support and intervention as they go about their daily lives
at the various sites and across the Borough. This applies whether they are victims of crime or witnesses
to it, involved in car accidents for example, or require the police for some other reason.
These additional crimes, anti-social and public safety/welfare incidents will translate into the following
day-to-day impacts upon BP:
 Additional calls and responses per year via the police control centre.
 Attendance to additional emergency events within the developments and Borough each year.
 Additional non-emergency events to follow-up with public contact each year.
 Additional recorded crimes in the developments and Borough
 Additional anti-social behavior incidents each year within the new developments and Borough.
 Demand for increased patrol cover.
 Additional vehicle use.
 Additional calls on police Airwaves system.
 Additional use of the Police National Database (PND) systems to process and store crime records
and intelligence.
 Additional demands for deployment of mobile CCTV technologies.
Additional demand for use of ANPR technologies.
 Additional demand for local access to beat staff from local neighbourhood teams.
 Additional policing cover and interventions in all the areas described when considering staffing
functions above and for additional accommodation from which to deliver these.
The above explains why it has been necessary to prepare the enclosed BPIP, which should be read in
conjunction with these representations. This is because it identifies and evidences the infrastructure
that will be required by BP to deliver effective policing services to the four potential growth options.
Hitherto BP has absorbed the impacts arising from development and population growth in the Borough
without seeking mitigation from the planning system. As explained and evidenced in detail in the BPIP,
this situation cannot continue as BP does not have the resources or capacity to do so. Further
development growth without any form of mitigation being provided will simply lead to a steady
degradation of BP’s ability to deliver policing services. This is a situation true of the education and health
authorities for example and applies to the emergency services as well.
The methodology used in the BPIP to calculate the police infrastructure impacts arising from the
development growth options has been endorsed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council. It has been
found to be sound by the Secretary of State 12 times and the Planning Inspectorate 31 times following
planning appeals. The most recent decision is dated 12 August 2021. This confirms that the
infrastructure requirements specified by BP are directly related in scale and kind to the development
growth options.
It is noted that the public consultation draft is concerned with seeking responses as to which of the four
options the Council should progress. Whilst BP are a neutral party when it comes to this decision, we
strongly recommend that when detailed planning policies are eventually prepared in relation to the
chosen option, they should set-out the infrastructure required to support it. This should include police
infrastructure in accordance with the detailed evidence and findings presented in the enclosed BPIP.