My objection to HOU16 is as follows.

The proposed housing development title Wixams East Extension is misleading as the planned ‘extension’ is within the Wilstead Parish Boundary. This is a Wilstead Village extension creating an almost 200% (and in conjunction with HOU15 more than 200%) extension trebling the size of the village and dramatically exceeding its share of required housing commitment.

Wilstead is not a Key Service Centre. It has one small general store with a small post office The size of which is adequate for the present population of Wilstead but not much more. A pharmacy which is closed at weekends. A small primary school which is over prescribed.
No doctor. No dentist. No small supermarket. It relies heavily on Bedford for all general services. I try to use the bus service to avoid car journeys but very often unable to because of its unreliability and very odd timings. Also its route is very inconvenient for most Wilstead residents as the stops are away from much of the population.
Wixams however is much better placed to be a Key Service Centre with much more facilities.


With regard to Bedford Borough Local Plan 2040 Para. 2.2 Theme 1.

On a wider analysis of the plan the area detailed is totally unsuitable on environmental grounds. It supports a great deal of wild life. On the northern part of the Wilstead parish, that which has been designated to be developed with 1800 dwellings, regularly can be sighted hare, skylark, deer, and a rear visitor the little egret. These areas are important to urban residents of Bedford as much as villagers and can be enjoyed by all by walking the many footpaths around Wilstead. We know from our pandemic experience how important this can be for general health.

Much of the Wilstead area is very important for water retention and the areas (inc. HOU15) planned are very much so, with a large area in the northern part of Wilstead Parish ( the 1800 housing development , and again this is NOT a Wixams extension but impacts directly on Wilstead) designated as flood prone. The development of such areas increase the risk of flooding in Bedford and further downstream of the Ouse and within the Borough.

The net zero carbon emissions targets will not be aided by this development. The distance to the planned Wixams railway station by foot or bicycle will be well over a mile from the northern Wilstead parish development (1800 houses) and so most using the station will use motorised transport. Even electric vehicles leave a carbon footprint. Would it not be more appropriate for the borough to achieve its objectives to develop the land west and north of the station landscaping the clay pits as has been done in other parts of Wixams. Creating a pleasant housing environment with shorter distances to the railway station.

I believe that a report has been published regarding an investigation into the traffic impact of developing the north of the borough and its detrimental effect on Bedford. This Wilstead development with the other developments proposed will have exactly the same effect on the southern parts of Bedford, with the coalescence of villages and exacerbated by the confluence of the A6 and the A600.

The proposed development runs counter to the intentions expressed in Para. 2.2 Theme 1 of the Bedford Borough Local Plan 2040

On an even wider front, the north Wilstead development (‘East Wixams’) would be on good arable farm land and as we have seen from the war in Ukraine that the preservation of food resources is important for the UK Far better to landscape and build on brown field areas.

To return to the proposed development’s impact on Wilstead. The effect on Wilstead of a development twice the size of the existing village will swamp the road system with a great increase in east-west traffic. The roads Bedford Road and Cotten End Road are far too narrow and with the need for many households to park along the road anyway. This will lead to traffic congestion, fumes, pollution and a serious impact on health and safety. The limited and non-existing facilities in Wilstead will not be anywhere near sufficient to provide for the development.

To object to this development being labelled as a East Wixams extension is not a nitpicking argument concerning boundaries; large as it is, close as it is to existing housing and lying east of the A6 boundary, it will have a disastrous effect on the community of Wilstead .