Comment

Representation ID: 9883

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Odell Parish Council

However, a major concern is that the Plan still uses the widely discredited Government methodology from 2014 to over-forecast the demand for new housing. This does not take account of post-pandemic changes in work-life patterns and post-Brexit reductions in economic growth. This is of great concern to current residents as it results in an excessive estimate of housing demand and hence new building sites. We would wish to see the Borough challenge these demands more rigorously in order to preserve the essentially rural nature of most of the Borough, particularly since the Borough has consistently met or exceeded its targets in recent years. In essence, we hope that Local Plan 2045v will be with us before we see 1000+ houses per year being built in the Borough.

If the main issue for the Borough is a shortage of genuinely affordable housing to rent or buy and their insufficient provision of social housing to rent through BPHA and other providers, the Plan appears to do little to address this imbalance, with major housebuilders pressing for ever more construction of expensive private housing without addressing the needs of the Borough or indeed the expanded local population. We would like to see firmer and more transparent action on this point from the Mayor and the Borough planning department.
The 500-home development proposed for our neighbouring village Sharnbrook is a case in point where the new population will increase demand on the local services that Odell residents depend on, such as the GP surgery and local schools and add to the already congested roads in both village centres and on trunk routes.