Object

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

Representation ID: 8989

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Bedfordia Developments Ltd and Bedfordshire Charitable Trust Ltd

Agent: DLP Planning Limited

Representation Summary:

The Council’s Preferred Options published for consultation contend that they draw heavily
on the ‘pillars’ of economic development and the natural environment from the emerging
Spatial Framework. The representations identify that the Council’s published consultation
proposals fail to embrace the comprehensive approach to supporting sustainable
development anticipated in the Spatial Framework. Paragraph 1.10 of the consultation
document ignores altogether the place-making ‘pillar’ of the Framework while the Preferred
Options as a whole are overly reliant on assumptions regarding improvements in strategic level
connectivity. This fails to embrace local opportunities for sustainable development.

Reasoning
It is surprising, and inconsistent with national policy and the emerging objectives of the Arc
Spatial Framework, that the consultation proposals make no mention of the connectivity or
place-making pillars of the Spatial Framework. Each should be considered of equal
importance.

Specifically, paragraph 4.1 of the consultation document ‘Creating a Vision for the Oxford-
Cambridge Arc places significant emphasis on reducing the need to travel. Connectivity is
not just about strategic road/rail links - it means:
“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.”

Paragraph 4.4 also states the importance of recognising the needs of an ageing population
in terms of service delivery. 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”

The settlement hierarchy in Bedford Borough means that Rural Service Centres and Key
Service Centres across the Authority have a key role in delivering these requirements for
sustainable communities and serving a wider rural hinterland – both in terms of immediate
needs and their role throughout the Plan period. The strategy in the Local Plan 2030 has
deferred important decisions relating to these priorities both in terms of avoiding the
reclassification of centres such as Oakley and in 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
The Council’s Preferred Options consultation proposals offer no scope to address these local
requirements for place-making and connectivity as part of a comprehensive ‘hybrid’ strategy.
This is as a result of identifying no requirement 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.