Object

Representation ID: 8931

Received: 01/10/2021

Respondent: Snelsons Farm Partnership

Agent: DLP Planning Limited

Paragraph 1.10 (alignment with the Ox-Cam Spatial Framework)– Comment
3.9 The draft strategy contends that the Council draws heavily on the ‘pillars’ of economic development and the natural environment drawn from the Spatial Framework. However, they fail to embrace the comprehensive approach to supporting sustainable development as anticipated by the Spatial Framework. Paragraph 1.10 ignores altogether the place-making ‘pillar’ of the Framework while the LP2040 draft strategy as a whole is overly reliant on assumptions regarding improvements in strategic-level connectivity. This fails to embrace local opportunities for sustainable development.
Reasoning
3.10 It is surprising, and inconsistent with national policy and the emerging objectives of the Ox-Cam Arc Spatial Framework, that the LP2040 draft stratgey Options make no mention of the connectivity or place-making pillars of the Spatial Framework. Each should be considered of equal importance.
3.11 Specifically, paragraph 4.1 of the Ox-Cam Arc consultation places significant emphasis on connectivity, defined as:
“improving communities’ access to the services they need – like a good quality, sustainable water supply and broadband, schools, cycle lanes and healthcare, as part of a great approach to place-making.”
3.12 Paragraph 4.4 affirms the importance of recognising the needs of an ageing population in terms of service delivery and moreover, at paragraph 4.5 the document goes on to explain:
“the policies of the Framework will be used to create a clear infrastructure plan giving communities access to the public services they need – including education and health”
3.13 The settlement hierarchy in Bedford Borough means that Rural Service Centres and Key Service Centres across the authority have a key role in delivering the requirement for sustainable communities, serving a wider rural hinterland – both immediate needs and throughout the plan period. The strategy in the BLP2030 has deferred important decisions
relating to these priorities both in terms of avoiding the reclassification of centres and by placing the requirement to allocate sites upon Neighbourhood Plans. Priorities have therefore not been addressed and in any event the current strategy has only sought to address a foreshortened period to 2030.
Remedy
3.14 The Council’s draft strategy consultation proposals offer no scope to address these local requirements for place-making and connectivity as part of a comprehensive strategy.
3.15 The Local Plan must acknowledge the continuing need for additional village-related growth outside of the ‘east’ or ‘south’ transport corridor parishes. Opportunities for sustainable development in accordance with these requirements (and the objectives of the emerging Spatial Framework) must be embraced both in the period to 2030 (to address the immediate uplift in the need for growth) and across the entire plan period to sustain the role and function of the Borough’s most sustainable settlements within the context of a longer term vision.