8.9

Support

Representation ID: 3867

Received: 27/08/2021

Respondent: Oakley Neighbourhood Planning Group

Bedford BC should aim to implement their net zero climate change policy by 2035/40.

Support

Representation ID: 4414

Received: 31/08/2021

Respondent: None

But to make this happen you are going to have to stop building all over the countryside and ditch your support for the Oxford Cambridge Arc: you can't have it both ways.

Support

Representation ID: 5049

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Ian Nicholls

The council needs to have more robust policies to promote meaningful actions to achieve this. The lack of any credible defence of support for the current EWR proposal is worrying.

Object

Representation ID: 5332

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Mr Jetinder Dhaliwal

Lots of councils declared a climate emergency, but it still seems "ok" to allow big infrastructure projects which don't want to talk about their impact to the climate e.g volume of concrete requierd (equates to much more CO2 generation).

Being carbon neutral in a steady state is good, but a lot of the damage is done with these other projects that outweigh their benefits for a lifetime or two at least (if ever!).

Object

Representation ID: 5410

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Ms Jackie Brand

Where is the Carbon Delivery Strategy, can this be appendixed into the Local Plan? I could not find it when I searched on the Council website.
The council need to be specify exactly what the plan and actions will be to address Climate Change

Object

Representation ID: 6671

Received: 14/09/2021

Respondent: Stevington Parish Council

Section 8: Position statements: Climate change subsection Section 8.9 Bedford Borough Council Approach
The recently released IPCC AR6 report tells us, in the starkest terms, that we must act now and quickly to limit global warming to less than 1.5°C if we are to minimise the worst adverse impacts of climate change. We are already seeing more severe weather events across the globe even with an increase of only 1.2°C. If we continue at the current level of global CO2 emissions we will almost certainly exceed 1.5°C. An increase of 2°C is very likely even if we achieve net zero by 2050 and higher temperature rises of 3°C or more will occur if we are slow to get to net zero. The environmental consequences from these temperature increases changes will be severe. It’s not just about loss of biodiversity there will be adverse impacts on farming, the food chain, energy, water and sewage. It will affect all of us personally. There will be flooding, more extreme storms and storm damage, extended heat waves and droughts. All countries will be affected, even the UK. Council must support and prepare communities for what is to come. The Councils growth plans are not reflecting this likely future.
Although the UK is making progress in reducing its carbon emissions, most of the current reduction are derived from changes in power generation and growth in renewable energy sources (the low hanging fruit is being, or has already been, picked!) There is very much slower progress in reduction of carbon emissions related to personal consumption, e.g., home heating, car transport and embodied carbon in food, consumables and the products we buy.
Bedford Council declared a climate emergency in March 2019. This declaration needs to be translated into emergency response and preparedness actions, building the resilience of local communities for what we are being told will inevitably happen in the coming decade.
In the light of the recent IPCC AR6 report these processes must be now be given a very much higher priority in growth plans. We most strongly urge council to adapt their policies to address carbon emission reduction for the whole borough and not just for those areas where there is to be growth. Council needs to move swiftly from policy and planning to implementation and action. A net zero borough by 2040 may not be soon enough to prevent major ecological and societal damage

Object

Representation ID: 8049

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Cycling Campaign for North Bedfordshire

Cycling Campaign for North Bedfordshire (CCNB) has examined the draft document and has the following comments to make.
By 2040 the world will be at the point of no return for climate change. As such the new Local Plan must focus on policies which will not increase pollution responsible for greenhouse gases but continue to mitigate the effect as quickly as possible.
In 2019 42% of the total pollution emitted by the Borough came from transport. It is therefore extremely important that emphasis is maintained on reducing this level through policies which encourage more sustainable modes to the car such as public transport, cycling and walking.
It should be noted that the switch to e-vehicles is not the complete answer at the present time due to the environmental concerns and future availability of obtaining the current components of batteries – cadmium and lithium. Hydrogen based vehicles may become one of newer sources but both do not reduce particle pollution which has become a major health concern for all people but particularly for children and the elderly. With the forecasted increase in traffic of more than 50% by 2050 the change solely to e- or h-vehicles will not resolve increasing congestion, air pollution and safety concerns.
All future new developments should therefore be situated near or have access to regular all day public transport and safe quality cycle routes. Cycle paths within a development should be connected to the existing cycle network especially if the development is on the edge or near the urban area.
The existing cycle network has to be improved in places to bring it up to the latest government quality standards.
The Borough’s Vision and Objectives and four Themes are all excellent but these must be followed up by actions.
The earlier Bedford Development Framework (2013) and Local Plan 2030 had similar policies but of the 54 items in the Cycling Background document for the still current Allocations and Designations (2013) component 76% (41) have still not been completed.
Since 2013 there have been more than a further 100 items of which more than 67% are still outstanding.

Support

Representation ID: 8229

Received: 26/09/2021

Respondent: Sharnbrook Parish Council

We note that the NPPF, Chapter 14, focuses on plans taking flood risk into account, and whilst we acknowledge BBC has taken this into account when conducting its SHELAA evaluations, it must be constantly at the forefront of all applications to avoid the issues that have been experienced locally in recent times. Mitigating flood risk must be a high priority for any development proposals in the Borough Council area in this period of significant Climate Change.