Object

Representation ID: 8952

Received: 01/10/2021

Respondent: Snelsons Farm Partnership

Agent: DLP Planning Limited

3.38 Whilst paragraph 1.47 refers to acknowledging the role of NDPs in meeting a small element of current housing needs it is unclear at that point the future role of such settlements where planning by NDP appears to be default approach. Turning to the Spatial Strategy Options, none appears to allow for further rural development whether secured by reviews of NDPs or otherwise. As such the LP2040 strategy appears to focus all of the development around the urban area of Bedford, the A421 and the A1 transport corridors, leaving the northern and western areas of the Borough relatively untouched.
Reasoning
3.39 Where the intention is that the LP2040 rolls forward the Local Plan (and for the reasons set out above, needs to be significantly more ambition if it is not intended that it should fail) then it is essential that positive planning should occur in the rural parts of the Borough. That is both for their own sustainability and also as a means of ensuring deliverability of new homes particularly in the earlier years of the Plan – see 3.6 above.
3.40 Accordingly, none of the options proposed are adequate to address either the delivery needs
of the Borough or indeed its actual spatial housing requirement. Despite the lack of northern development in the Borough through the preferred options, the Rural Service Centres (RSC) such as Turvey, are capable of delivering development within the plan period up to 2040, with emerging Neighbourhood Plans and suitable sites being identified in the Call for Sites event that Bedford Borough Council undertook in the Summer of 2020
3.41 For the reasons set out in the following part of these representations, land opportunities exist at Turvey which can make a material contribution to supply, without being exceptional and which can help deliver a sustainable mix of development not reliant on deferring growth on large strategic sites.
3.42 In all cases however it is noted that the Council’s work remains at this time at a relatively early stage with significant ‘gaps’ in the evidence presented – particularly in terms of development timescales, infrastructure delivery and viability. Notably:
• Infrastructure Delivery Plan – to be prepared alongside site allocations
• Settlement Hierarchy (September 2018) – review underway
• Plan-wide Viability Assessment – yet to be commissioned.
Remedy
3.43 It is therefore our expectation that any future draft of the LP2040 will properly address the role of the designated rural settlements reflective of the role which they can and should play in delivering the spatial objectives as well as supporting the overall delivery of growth for the extended plan period.