Object

Representation ID: 9056

Received: 12/11/2021

Respondent: Colmworth Parish Council

Agent: Troy Planning + Design

1.3. As the Draft Local Plan explains, there still is not sufficient clarity about the implications of the Arc for Bedford Borough and its neighbours including that there is no information regarding housing numbers. BBC stresses the critical need for ‘collective determination over the long-term’ to plan and deliver the right quality and in the right places to meet it needs. BBC explains that it might include the expansion of existing settlements and new settlements but that it will require ‘long-term commitments to provide the enabling infrastructure and to deliver that ahead of the arrival of new communities’. Despite this clear stated need for collective determination for planning at a ‘larger than local’ scale, there is no evidence provided by BBC on how it has worked with any of its neighbours or Duty to Cooperate prescribed bodies which contradicts BBCs identification of the critical need for joint working on what are very complex issues.
many important strategic decisions that will affect the scale and form of growth in and close to Bedford Borough in the medium and longer term are likely to be made in the next few years.”3
“The declaration itself is silent on housing numbers. It recognises that the Arc is first and foremost an area of significant economic strength and opportunity, and through the joint declaration the partners (including the then 43 local authorities across the Arc) set out to meet the Arc’s full economic potential for the benefit of existing and future local communities and businesses, and in the national interest. There is acknowledgement that to achieve this will demand collective determination over the long-term, to deliver significantly more homes in the Arc, of the right quality and in the right places to meet its needs. Also that this might include the expansion of existing as well as the development of new settlements. It will require long-term commitments to provide the enabling infrastructure and to deliver that ahead of the arrival of new communities, and to meet economic and housing ambitions while overall improving rather than degrading the environment in the Arc, in line with commitments in the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan”