Object

Representation ID: 8982

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Hampton Brook (UK) Limited

Agent: Axiom Great Barford Limited

The Development Strategy Topic Paper states that at the Issues and Options stage, the most popular options for growth were within the existing urban area, the A421 corridor and rail-based locations. The Sustainability Appraisal identified that urban growth and urban edge growth are the most sustainable approach to new development. This position is supported by Hampton Brook.

However, a substantial number of the sites that have been submitted to the Local Authority for consideration as potential development sites are being promoted as residential housing sites as opposed to employment land.

Additionally, it is noted in Chapter 3 of the consultation document that the Council wish to utilise both larger and smaller sites for use as employment sites. This indicates that opportunities outside those large sites in the A421 corridor will need to be identified moving forward. The Manton Lane site promoted by Hampton Brook, within an existing industrial site, is prime example of the type of site the Local Planning Authority should be looking to allocate to complement the inevitable strategic allocations.

The four Growth Options put forward by the Council all intend to deliver up to 51 hectares of employment on the edge of Bedford. Development on the edge of Bedford is constrained to the north/north-east as a result of issues such as landscape, topography, flood plain and potential coalescence with smaller settlements. There is also a pressure to deliver residential development within and on the edge of Bedford also and many of the available sites will be more suited to this use. This pressure reinforces the essential need to fully assess all available opportunities in the urban area and a finer grain assessment of site availability needs to be undertaken to inform the development strategy.

For example, Hampton Brook’s site in Manton Industrial Estate was historically used for playing fields, however, as noted above, the site is now the only opportunity available to increase the employment provision on this existing employment area due to the recent appeal decision to grant planning permission for a school on surrounding land. Given its surrounding context, the land is an ideal site for employment use with limited environmental constraints. There are options for mitigating the loss of the playing fields and indeed the current playing fields are not publicly accessible.