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Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 8828

Received: 29/09/2021

Respondent: Rosconn Strategic Land

Agent: Phillips Planning Services

Representation Summary:

Neighbourhood Planning – Paragraphs 1.46 to 1.51
3.7. Neighbourhood Planning has been very successful in Bedford Borough, and has been embraced by many Parish Councils. On several sites we have seen Parish Councils being proactive in their engagement with developers and making informed decisions in bringing forward proposals for development in line with the requirements of the Bedford Local Plan 2030; or indeed providing development for their community in line with Local Housing Needs Survey.

3.8. This has been the case with our client’s site at Hill Farm, Sharnbrook, and on this basis, could continue to be a useful tool in delivering growth in the villages.

3.9. However, it is also important to ensure that, where strategic growth is considered, this growth is ideally identified and allocated in the Local Plan 2040. Alternatively as with the previous Local Plan 2030, growth identified in the Local Plan could be secured through the site allocation process delegated to local communities through the creation of a Neighbourhood Plan, or indeed the review, of an existing one.

3.10. We recognise that some Parish Council’s and the communities they represent, who have, or are in the process of delivering large scale growth, may be reluctant to consider enlarged allocations, going forward to 2040. However, we would encourage the Borough Council to continue to review the potential of growth of the Key Service Centres, and to consider the opportunity to build upon the infrastructure that existing allocations will deliver.

3.11. Our clients are strongly advocating that further development can be delivered in Sharnbrook, and that the remaining capacity of approximately 250 dwellings could make a meaningful contribution towards housing delivery in the next plan period.

3.12. The site at Hill Farm, Mill Road has been independently assessed as part of the Neighbourhood Plan process, and the site has been considered as sustainable and suitable to accommodate the expansion of the village; avoiding the constraints found within or to the west of the village. In her report, the Examiner noted that the site at Hill Farm had performed strongly in respect of the effect of development on ‘Biodiversity’, the ‘Historic Environment’, ‘Landscape’ and ‘Transport’. The conclusion was that the site’s allocation was soundly based.