Comment

Representation ID: 9864

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: CPRE Bedfordshire

River Great Ouse and Valley Area – a “Valued Landscape”
16. Para 2.1 CPRE Bedfordshire commented in our initial consultation response that the Local Plan Vision fails to recognise the importance of the "River Great Ouse and its
Valley Area" right across the Borough from its point of entry near Turvey to where it exits the Borough in the east. This is a serious omission that should be remedied.
17. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (2021) Para 174, states that ‘Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by ……… protecting and enhancing valued landscapes, sites of biodiversity or geological value and soils (in a manner commensurate with their statutory status or identified quality in the development plan).
18. The NPPF therefore creates the basis for the protection of “valued landscapes” in planning policies and CPRE Bedfordshire would like to see the Council look positively at the opportunity this creates to protect the Great River Ouse and Valley Area right across Bedford Borough. The area CPRE Bedfordshire recommends being recognised as a “valued landscape” would be the same as that designated an Area of Great Landscape Value in earlier Local Plans, prior to this national designation being removed by government.