4.87

This is being classes wixams south but in fact in the boundary of Wilstead so being miss sold. Not enough infrastructure to support the existing houses at Wilstead and wixams, let alone 300 new houses. We have food shortages due to wars, Brexit and COVID taking more farm land for houses will increase the problem. The United Kingdom need to be more sustainable. This is not helping.

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 .

My objection to the 1800 houses development proposed is that lying within the parish of Wilstead as it does, the plan will have a devastating effect on the Village of Wilstead. In fact Wilstead will no longer be a Village. Bedford Borough should be protecting its villages to preserve diverse living environments, and the character of the borough. Being in the Wilstead parish as it is, a village extension effectively trebling the size of the village. A village that is mis designated as a Key Service centre as it has few facilities. No doctor, no dentist, no small supermarket. It has a small village primary school and a small general store/post office which is the right size for the village population as it stands. Wilstead is reliant on Bedford for services. The bus service is inadequate as it is, and its unreliability makes it unusable for attending appointments in Bedford. With the trebling of the size of the village the resulting traffic through the village will cause serious congestion pollution both fumes and noise on roads which were never built, or can safely be adapted, to meet the increase in demand.

The propose site is important for wildlife, many species depend on it, and it is also on valuable arable farm land. The loss of this will harm the borough’s policy of protecting bio-diversity within the borough. Much of it is designated as a flood risk area and the whole, along with much of the Wilstead parish, an important water retention area helping to ease the risk of flooding in Bedford itself.

This is misleading ,land east of Wixams,it is Wilstead,
This has been intensionaly misleading, to sound like just another part of Wixams,when actually it is part of Wilstead
Wilstead is a small rural village,this and the other proposed development,would triple the size of the village
It would lose its strategic gap between Wixams and Wilstead
Also this would mean the lose of important green spaces,and development on area also prone to flooding
The village is not a key service area,but has been labelled as such
There are no doctors facilities,public transport is limited and indeed total absent from large parts of the village
There is one general store which is also the post office


The roads are also unable to cope with any more traffic,dangerously so near the school and on Cotton End road
The character of the village would be ruined,if this is allowed to go ahead
Please stop this development

This development is in Wilstead parish,this should have been clearly stated.Not classes as next to Wixams
Does Wilstead not count any more ,are we to be swallowed up by Wixam expansion
Wilstead is a small rural village,we want it to stay that way
Large scale developments are not suited to this location
Some of the proposed developments are on or near flood plan,we already have problems with flooding
On both roads ,fields and other areas ,any more developments will make thing much worse
This is an important green space for the village,used and appreciated by the local people
The local roads are already having problems at peak times,being used as a rat run between the A6 and A600
This will be much worse if these large scale developments are allowed to go ahead.As we don’t have any public transport
in large parts of the village.So people will be forces to use cars,to get any where.
As there are no doctors or dentists in the village,so we already have to travel to other area for these.
Local doctors practices are already overwhelmed

This is ridiculous, the infastructure for the existing expansion in wixams and wilstead has not grown as it is enough to support the local population. No doctors no schools no cycle paths no shops. Acces on to a6 is already a problem. No future thinking appears to have taken plave. The policy is driven by developer greed and does not cover the needs of the existing population let alone growing it expotentally.
Bin it start again and do it properly for the people.

The location of this site is key to retaining segregation of the two distinctively different communities - Wixams and Wilstead. Development in this area places a huge risk to Wilstead being subsumed as part of Wixams. The number of houses proposed would represent a trebing in the size of Wilshamstead Parish - na increase which would be unsustainable from the point of existing infrastructure.
The naming of this site as "Land East of Wixams" should be changed to "North Wilstead" as it lies within the Wilshamstead Parish. This is misleading and will have led to Wilstead residents thinking the the development does not affect them

This takes up a considerable amount of valuable farm land, some of which has recently been improved environmentally for wildlife and insects. It will change for ever the appearance of this unique part of Bedford, the flat land before it rise to meet the Greensand Ridge. It will impinged on many footpaths/bridleways and the John Bunyan Way. It provides quiet green space for walker, cyclists and riders.
It will drastically affect the wildlife present in the area.
This area is a flood plain, it should not be built on.

I understand this development is within Wilstead parish and will treble the size of the village and change its rural nature irrevocably, create a renewed risk of flooding, increase traffic - it's hard enough to get onto and across the A6 now; at present pheasants, partridges, woodpigeons, collared doves, cats, squirrels, hedgehogs walk along Bedford Road and Cotton End Road in relative safety. Horseriding is a part of village life.
All the area proposed for development is agricultural land.
The housing will not benefit local Bedford people but will encourage moving from areas from other parts of the country.

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.