1.2

Object

Representation ID: 5945

Received: 08/09/2021

Respondent: Staploe Parish Council

Staploe Parish and especially the residents of HONEYDON (including myself) could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet as a community in public or other local residents to discuss this until very recently. Plus it’s been difficult to cascade and discuss about the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened!!.

Object

Representation ID: 5990

Received: 08/09/2021

Respondent: Mrs Christina Farmer

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6084

Received: 09/09/2021

Respondent: Jen Giles

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6131

Received: 09/09/2021

Respondent: Mrs Sandie Tusting

We believe this should be grounds for an extension to the process to enable better consultation and public engagement. Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently.

Object

Representation ID: 6188

Received: 09/09/2021

Respondent: Peter Coles

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6280

Received: 10/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Paul Zwetsloot

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6394

Received: 13/09/2021

Respondent: Ms Donna Thompson

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6409

Received: 13/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Steven Kent

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6517

Received: 13/09/2021

Respondent: Mrs Susan Trolley

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6576

Received: 14/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Aiden Farmer

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6698

Received: 14/09/2021

Respondent: Mrs Elizabeth Froude

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6736

Received: 14/09/2021

Respondent: Ms S Kelly

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6788

Received: 15/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Damian Smith

My local area (Staploe parish) could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and it has not been possible to meet publicly to discuss this until very recently. In particular, responding to and understanding the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site was almost impossible because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6836

Received: 13/09/2021

Respondent: Mrs Joanna Ibbett

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, I found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6875

Received: 15/09/2021

Respondent: Master Corey T Farmer

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 6967

Received: 16/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Robert Tusting

We believe this should be grounds for an extension to the process to enable better consultation and public engagement. Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently.

Object

Representation ID: 7005

Received: 17/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Robert Tusting

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7056

Received: 09/09/2021

Respondent: June Coles

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7103

Received: 09/09/2021

Respondent: Stephen Coles

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7183

Received: 17/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Peter Knight

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7270

Received: 01/09/2021

Respondent: Miss Laura Jones

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7330

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Miss Becky Browning

Covid-19 has caused problems for many, meaning this cannot be used as an excuse. As a community, we have been unable to meet in public to discuss this until very recently.
I feel that the information to increase the Dennybrook site by 25% 8 months after the call for sites deadline was not well known and the fact that it was only one month before the consultation opened was short notice.

Object

Representation ID: 7387

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Simon Goodship

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7480

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Jonathan Hambleton

PLEASE NOTE SOME OF MY ANSWERS USE ADVICE/GUIDANCE FROM PEOPLE BETTER QUALIFIED TO COMMENT ON TECHNICAL INFORMATION RE PLANNING/TRANSPORT ETC. THESE ARE THEREFORE INCLUDED VERBATIM TO ENSURE THEIR ACCURACY ON SUCH TECHNICAL MATTERS. THIS DOES NOT MEAN MY RESPONSES DO NOT REPRESENT MY PERSONAL VIEWS AND MY MOTIVES ARE TO PROTECT MY HOME BUT ALSO THE ENVIRONMENT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. THE WHOLE LOCAL PLAN/CALL FOR SITES CONSULTATIONS ARE FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED ON SO MANY LEVELS THAT I FEEL I BARELY WISH TO RESPOND, HOWEVER TO NOT DO SO MIGHT MEAN FURTHER ERRORS PERSIST AND THE CONSULTATION CONCLUSIONS MAKE FURTHER PROPOSALS WITH CATASTROPHIC ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES.
The North Bedfordshire countryside and Staploe Parish in particular could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with fellow residents to discuss this until very recently. The consultation process and immense quantity of technical documentation, complex response process, tight timescales and the disproportionate size of the local residents to respond and be heard compared with the other residential areas being discussed is unreasonable to make the decisions upon which a Local Plan is made democratic. Indeed, to gain professional support and advice required fundraising before any professional guidance could be afforded, whereas the Borough council has access to finds/resources to skew decisions in any way which may suit political and other agendas. I have not received any previous flyers to alert me to this process until this later consultation which has already brought the decisions down to a limited number of options (4 key development sites) of which this local area is the centre of 3. Indeed, even if I had received previous information about this plan and the local development proposals they would be in accurate due to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site which was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.
The decisions which underpin this whole consultation are in themselves flawed as they describe this rural area as part of a BROWN option………this description lead to this area being an option chosen by people who did not want further development near to them and they will have assumed was a greener choice! it is solely classed as VERY GOOD Agricultural land…….the country is short of agricultural land and so destruction of it when there are Brownfield sites not being developed is totally against all Local and National government policies.

I therefore do not agree that this consultation was sound or fair. I agree with Staploe Parish Council who responded to question 4 as follows: “Staploe Parish Council object in the strongest terms to the suggestion in the brown option that our parish is a brownfield site or under utilised land. Our whole parish is classed as open countryside for planning purposes. Our three tiny hamlets are not even classed as a small settlement in the Local Plan 2030 definition (6.21) and we are therefore defined as open countryside. We feel that describing the brown option which would see the majority of our parish covered in a large scale, high density, urban development as using brownfield or under utilised land is very misleading. We believe this could compromise the validity of the consultation as those responding would logically propose development on brownfield or under-utilised land over greenfield sites.

We believe the pros and cons list for the brown option is very inaccurate for our parish. A large development in Staploe parish would not support services etc in Bedford – we are 13 miles away and people would use services in St. Neots which are already under pressure due to large scale development on the eastern side of the town. There would be very little potential for residents here to make sustainable travel choices – we have one bus on Thursday and it would require huge investment to improve public transport. This would not reduce the need for growth in rural areas – we are a rural area and it proposes building all over our parish. Development in our parish would not improve viability of retail and leisure in Bedford Borough. People would go to St. Neots.”

Object

Representation ID: 7589

Received: 01/09/2021

Respondent: Miss Nicola Tagg

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7791

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Emilio Meola

Late addition of 25% increase in Dennybrook site is not acceptable as it is 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and one month before the end of the consultation .

Object

Representation ID: 7831

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Mark Ibbett

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet our Parish Council have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, I found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 7918

Received: 24/09/2021

Respondent: Ms Lorraine Jewell

PLEASE NOTE SOME OF MY ANSWERS USE ADVICE/GUIDANCE FROM PEOPLE BETTER QUALIFIED TO COMMENT ON TECHNICAL INFORMATION RE PLANNING/TRANSPORT ETC. THIS DOES NOT MEAN MY RESPONSES DO NOT REPRESENT MY PERSONAL VIEWS AND MY MOTIVES ARE TO PROTECT MY HOME BUT ALSO THE ENVIRONMENT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. I WAS BORN AND GREW UP IN BEDFORDSHIRE AND WISH TO PROTECT ITS NATURAL ASSETS. DUE PROCESS HAS NOT BEEN FOLLOWED AND GREENER OPTIONS ARE NOT BEING PRIORITISED FOR CONSIDERATION. THIS PROCESS IS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED AND MUST BE FULLY REVIEWED SO DEVASTATING IRREVERIBLE DAMAGE IS NOT DONE TO THE RURAL LANDSCAPE OF BEDFORDSHIRE.

The North Bedfordshire countryside and Staploe Parish in particular could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with fellow residents to discuss this until very recently. The consultation process and immense quantity of technical documentation, complex response process, tight timescales and the disproportionate size of the local residents to respond and be heard compared with the other residential areas being discussed is unreasonable to make the decisions upon which a Local Plan is made democratic. Indeed, to gain professional support and advice required fundraising before any professional guidance could be afforded, whereas the Borough council has access to finds/resources to skew decisions in any way which may suit political and other agendas. I have not received any previous flyers to alert me to this process until this later consultation which has already brought the decisions down to a limited number of options (4 key development sites) of which this local area is the centre of 3. Indeed, even if I had received previous information about this plan and the local development proposals they would be in accurate due to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site which was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

The decisions which underpin this whole consultation are in themselves flawed as they describe this rural area as part of a BROWN option………this description lead to this area being an option chosen by people who did not want further development near to them and they will have assumed was a greener choice! it is solely classed as VERY GOOD Agricultural land…….the country is short of agricultural land and so destruction of it when there are Brownfield sites not being developed is totally against all Local and National government policies.

I therefore do not agree that this consultation was sound or fair. I agree with Staploe Parish Council who responded to question 4 as follows: “Staploe Parish Council object in the strongest terms to the suggestion in the brown option that our parish is a brownfield site or under utilised land. Our whole parish is classed as open countryside for planning purposes. Our three tiny hamlets are not even classed as a small settlement in the Local Plan 2030 definition (6.21) and we are therefore defined as open countryside. We feel that describing the brown option which would see the majority of our parish covered in a large scale, high density, urban development as using brownfield or under utilised land is very misleading. We believe this could compromise the validity of the consultation as those responding would logically propose development on brownfield or under-utilised land over greenfield sites.

We believe the pros and cons list for the brown option is very inaccurate for our parish. A large development in Staploe parish would not support services etc in Bedford – we are 13 miles away and people would use services in St. Neots which are already under pressure due to large scale development on the eastern side of the town. There would be very little potential for residents here to make sustainable travel choices – we have one bus on Thursday and it would require huge investment to improve public transport. This would not reduce the need for growth in rural areas – we are a rural area and it proposes building all over our parish. Development in our parish would not improve viability of retail and leisure in Bedford Borough. People would go to St. Neots.”

We still feel that this is a fair reflection that the issues and options consultation was flawed because it led people to believe that our rural parish was urban with underutilised or brownfield land which is very far from the case.

It is unusual to for a draft Local Plan to attempt a review of the strategic growth for the borough whilst at the same time reviewing certain planning policies that will support the Local Plan going forward. It may be through deciding the strategic growth of the borough that additional or existing policies need reviewing. For example, should the growth strategy employ a rail based growth strategy (e.g. new settlement at Little Barford linking to the East West rail station to the south of St Neots) then there may be a need for a specific rail based policy. Policy 90S of the adopted Local Plan identifies the infrastructure that may come forward as part of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc as well as supporting identified allocations. However, a separate rail based specific policy intervention may be required should the growth strategy around rail as a ‘sustainable’ form of growth be selected. Nevertheless, BBC need to be confident that the growth options identified within the draft Local Plan, or indeed any other suitable growth strategy that might be applied, reflects the current policies within the adopted Local Plan and those that are currently subject to consultation.

In addition, the issues and options consultation was conducted during the covid pandemic when it was not possible to meet more than 6 people outside. We believe this was reflected in the responses: Number of respondents = 315
• 222 were from within the borough – out of a total estimated population of 174,687. This is a pitiful 0.12% response rate
• 93 were from outside the Borough or did not give a postcode
• 53% were from individuals.
Top areas for numbers of responses:
1. Bedford 46
2. Sharnbrook 23
3. Staploe 18 (a 6% response rate which was 50 times the Borough average)
By contrast – no other areas were in double figures. This brings into further question the validity of the consultation.

Object

Representation ID: 7992

Received: 24/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Larry Gooch

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook (site 977) site because it was made public at short notice 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.

Object

Representation ID: 8098

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Dr Emma Thompson

Staploe Parish could be profoundly and permanently affected by the decisions made in this plan and yet we have been unable to meet with residents in public to discuss this until very recently. However, we found it particularly difficult to respond to the 25% increase in the area of the Dennybrook site (site 977) because it was made public at short notice, 8 months after the call for sites deadline closed and only one month before the consultation opened.