7.27

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Support

Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 3864

Received: 27/08/2021

Respondent: Oakley Neighbourhood Planning Group

Representation Summary:

Design Guide should include place making, reflecting local areas and residents' views as in Neighbourhood Plans; high environmental standards, including 20% net environmental gain& 20% green space; lifetime homes principles & home working space; soft integration into countryside & sustainable transport.

Full text:

The Design Guide for the Local Plan 2040 should incorporate the following items.
Place making should reflect the local area and every urban area should have a Place Identifier for house types, historical buildings, churches, schools and retail/industrial areas. Open space with footpaths and cycle ways linked to community facilities and 20% net environment gains on sites close by should also be included. Green landscaping, play areas and biodiversity should be identified and local residents involved as in Neighbourhood Plans.
All new dwellings should have solar panels or heat pumps and be fully insulated. Bin, cycle and water storage should be specified. A mix of house types using lifetime homes principles and including space for home working should be included. Space around dwellings would need to meet national minimum standards and hard standing would need to be of a permeable nature.
Sustainable transport should be encouraged with new developments having access to frequent bus services, (every 15/20 minutes) and footpaths and cycle routes to retail areas, schools, community centres and churches. Parks and open spaces should include play areas for all age groups and there should be soft integration at the edges of sites adjacent to open countryside. Footpaths and cycle ways should link to footpaths/bridleways in the area.
Sites of 10 or more dwellings should include 20% green open space including hedges. Net environmental gain of 20% should be incorporated into the Guide for all development. Species should be identified, and green corridors included. If appropriate the green corridors should be extended to access the countryside.
Neighbourhood Plans have already identified what is special about their settlement and all new development should include place making either by the Borough Council or through a Neighbourhood Plan.

Support

Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 7915

Received: 24/09/2021

Respondent: Sharnbrook Parish Council

Representation Summary:

SPC welcomes the production of a revised Design Guide for the area, and hopes that this will be taken into account for all applications going forward once agreed. It is especially pleasing that the Borough Council notes the need for rural and urban developments to be differentiated and that the needs are quite different. In particular, the use of trees in large developments is to be applauded, but should be applied to all developments over, say, 5 dwellings. Every effort must be taken to retain trees, or to replant where this is not possible, as well as adding more trees to developments to help with carbon capture. Planning applications should be planned around existing trees, rather than removing "inconvenient" trees and replanting. Wherever possible.

Support

Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 8228

Received: 26/09/2021

Respondent: Sharnbrook Parish Council

Representation Summary:

SPC welcomes the production of a revised Design Guide for the area, and hopes that this will be taken into account for all applications going forward once agreed. It is especially pleasing that the Borough Council notes the need for rural and urban developments to be differentiated and that the needs are quite different. In particular, the use of trees in large developments is to be applauded, but should be applied to all developments over, say, 5 dwellings. Every effort must be taken to retain trees, or to replant where this is not possible, as well as adding more trees to developments to help with carbon capture. Planning applications should be planned around existing trees, rather than removing "inconvenient" trees and replanting. Wherever possible.

Support

Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 8516

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Bedfordshire Police

Representation Summary:

As explained earlier in these representations, BP strongly advocate that Secured by Design (SBD) be
promoted by the relevant policies of the new Local Plan. In the same vein, the proposed Bedford
Borough Design Guide should do so as well.
This will ensure that developers properly consider the measures involved in designing out crime to
create and maintain a sustainable community in accordance with the following, as well as the National
Model Design Code (July 2021) (see above):
 Paragraphs 8, 20, 35-37, 92 (b), 97 and 130 (f) of the National Planning Policy Framework (July
2021) (NPPF);
 Bedford Borough’s Sustainable Community Strategy 2009-2021 – Section 5; and
 Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended).
To give a brief summary of SBD, it is a long-running flagship initiative of the National Policy Chiefs’
Council (formally Association of Chief Police Officers). Its objective is to design out crime during the
planning process. It is a highly respected standard in the sector, supported by numerous public bodies
and professional organisations. SBD is therefore a vital guidance resource for planners. SBD was created
in 1989, is available online, regularly updated and consequently there is no danger of it ceasing to exist
during the lifetime of the Local Plan.
It should though be highlighted that incorporating SBD will not though negate the need for additional
police and other emergency services infrastructure in relation to new developments. Not least because
there is no statutory power under which police, fire & rescue and ambulance services could be reduced
because of a given scheme incorporating SBD.

Attachments:

Support

Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 9036

Received: 04/10/2021

Respondent: Historic England

Representation Summary:

We welcome the preparation of a Design Guide. It would be helpful to mention the historic environment in paragraph 7.28. It would be helpful to have a specific policy in the Plan for the Design Guide to sit under.
We have been consulted on the SEA for the Design Guide and look forward to commenting on the Design Guide itself as it emerges.
Tall Buildings Study and Policy
Given the growth pressures that will be experienced by Bedford over the coming
years, we strongly recommend that the matter of Tall buildings and the skyline needs
to be addressed in a new DM policy. We recommend that you commission a tall
buildings study. See our advice note HEAN 4 and the consultation draft of HEAN 4.
Any policy should indicate what considerations are needed for taller buildings, where
buildings may or may not be appropriate etc. and in particular consider in the impact
on the historic environment. We would be happy to advise further regarding the
detail of such a study.
Supporting Evidence
Landscape Character Assessment/Historic Landscape Characterisation
We welcome the section on Historic Landscape Character within the LCA (paras 2.15
– 2.84) which provides helpful context. However, we continue to request that the
finer grained historic landscape characterisation is updated to better inform future
development and growth options.
Historic England – OX Cam research work
Historic England has commissioned consultants to undertake some work looking at
development in the OxCam Arc. ‘Measuring Impact: Managing Change’ looks at the
question, ‘How should the form of growth in the Oxford-Cambridge arc positively respond to the Historic Environment’. This research is due to report later this year and we hope to be able to share this with you at this time as it may provide useful evidence to inform your Local Plan work.

Object

Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 9072

Received: 12/11/2021

Respondent: Colmworth Parish Council

Agent: Troy Planning + Design

Representation Summary:

Design Guide / Design Codes
17.4. CPC raises concerns regarding BBC’s stated approach to preparing a Design Guide for the whole Borough. It states that the Council is currently preparing a Design Guide to supplement the policies in the Local Plan 203054. From the description of the Design Guide it sounds like it will provide ‘general design advice’ which is not what is needed. There is already a Government prepared National Design Guide which is to be used where a local authority does not have its own.
17.5. A key tenet of the preparation of a Design Guide and Design Code is engagement with the community from the ‘scoping stage’. Whilst we are aware of the Design Guide SPD Scoping Document and consultation, CPC is not aware of there being any engagement strategy or consultation strategy with Parishes or other community groups on the preparation of a Design Guide. We seek clarification from BBC on this and what its proposed process for engagement will be.

INCLUDES FIGURE 17.1: NATIONAL MODEL DESIGN CODE PAGE 7

17.6. Linked to the above point, the Draft Local Plan and Local Development Scheme is entirely unclear as to what the Council’s proposed approach is for new Design Codes, SPDs and / or DPDs in relation to potential strategic development in its Local Plan. For instance, if a new settlement were to be proposed would the Council seek to prepare a separate specific DPD, SPD or Design Code for the new settlement? One would expect this to have been thought through by this point in the process and communicated to the public as it has significant impacts not only on the programme and timetable for when a site could potentially come forward but provides more certainty for all involved as to the roadmap ahead is.

Attachments: