Object
Bedford Borough Local Plan 2040 Plan for Submission
Representation ID: 9361
Received: 28/07/2022
Respondent: Mrs Philippa Darnton
Legally compliant? No
Sound? No
Duty to co-operate? No
Decimating virgin agricultural land would negatively impact the mental health of local residents; rob productive arable land when grain prices are at a crisis levels; and is an inexcusable act which would irreversibly change the historic beauty of the John Bunyan Trail as it approaches his village of Elstow. There are plenty of unallocated Brownfield areas that are ripe for development elsewhere, so opting to using agricultural land to create an isolated ghetto which is cut off from local services by busy dual carriageways is indefensible and potentially criminally negligent to the welfare of the local and wider population.
I object to the agricultural land East of Wixams being used for development for the following reasons:
1) Currently this is greenfield agricultural land with footpaths and bridleways. It is a beautiful expanse for walking and significantly helps the mental health of local residents who can currently walk, jog and enjoy the open fields here.
2) Currently this land is viable as farmland, but if some of it is taken for development, this makes the rest of the land unviable and so it is only a matter of time before the rest of the land is sold off for development, losing swathes of productive agricultural land at a time when the country needs to be able to grow produce (cost of grain crisis)
3) There are plenty of scruffy brownfield areas elsewhere that have yet to be allocated. Time, money and effort should be channelled into using such areas before decimating virgin agricultural land to the East of Wixams
4) The area proposed for development East of Wixams is cut off from Wixams and Elstow by two busy intersecting dual carriageways (A6 and A421). Residents here would feel cut off from the main residential areas
5) The roundabouts on the A6 are already getting very congested, so traffic mitigation to accommodate the new development would further exacerbate the problem
6) The location of the proposed site East of Wixams is such that it would be extremely difficult to build a sense of community (attempting to link both areas across busy dual carriage ways with poor access to sufficient infrastructure) and would lack of a sense of place. Consequently, the proposed development area East of Wixams would be at very high risk of becoming a ghetto with dysfunctional suburban problems due to the poorly designed plan
7) This proposal would change forever the historic, characterful, and beautiful John Bunyan Trail which currently is a peaceful pilgrimage. Walking down the hill from Haynes through Wilstead as the trail approaches John Bunyan's village of Elstow, one can get a feel for the historic significance of this landscape and how it has looked for centuries. The proposal would eradicate an important part of Bedford's history.