Policy HOU16 Land at East Wixams

Object

Representation ID: 9097

Received: 13/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Zahir Mohammed

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

The plan is misleading and within Wilstead Parish.
Lived in village over 30 years - concerned that Wilstead Village identity will be lost, more noise, pollution, addtional pressure on roads and infrastructure.

Already lots of hosing development going on in Shortstown, Wixams, and Houghton Conquest. Wilstead already had some.

Object

Representation ID: 9107

Received: 15/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Johnny Palmer

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

Detract from Elstow as a rural heritage village. Elstow therefore becoming indistinguishable from Wixams or other urban areas. Excessive noise/dust and other pollution over many years. Destroy green space, wildlife and general ecology of the area.

Object

Representation ID: 9111

Received: 17/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Richard Oxlade

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

I think Wixams and Wilstead are linked closely enough already. We do not want Wilstead to be lost in a Wixams urban sprawl. You (BBC) have already demonstrated a lack of commitment & understanding to what Wixams residents need and I don't think you should provide any further development in this area until you have at least delivered what was originally promised.

Object

Representation ID: 9151

Received: 23/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Bruno Viscogliosi

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

Clearly the small village of Wilstead doesn't factor into these plans, as even though the this is seen as a Wixams extension they all fall within Wilsteads Parish Boundary.

The infrastructure in place for the current number of homes is insufficient, so tripling the size of Wilstead will increase the problems further. Poor public transport, school places, doctors etc.

Object

Representation ID: 9240

Received: 26/07/2022

Respondent: Ms Susan Driver

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

1. This is 'protected' Wilshamstead parish land - not part of Wixams.
2. There is no doctors surgery for either Wixams residents or Wilstead residents - in spite of previous Borough promises. Building more houses without adequate infrastructure is contrary to everything Bedford Borough has claimed to offer the residents. Maybe lawsuits are all that Bedford Borough will respond to.
3. You are snatching away 'green' spaces in order to cover it in houses. Your claim to provide green open spaces is yet another lie.

Object

Representation ID: 9246

Received: 26/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Simon Pickett

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

This is not Wixams East, this is land north of Wilstead and that has been the case long before the 2015 creation of Wixams. Wilstead has 1,000 homes today and adding 2,100 and annexing land off to Wixams will destroy important food-providing countryside at a time which wheat is under threat globally. This land is the rural farming land to the north of Wilstead and a key walking route which has been around for centuries. The land is flooded regularly, building on it is dangerous and negatively impacts existing villagers. It will fundamentally damage local biodiversity. Wilstead is being ruined.

Object

Representation ID: 9251

Received: 27/07/2022

Respondent: Met Office

Agent: Mr Adam Kindred

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Yes

Please refer to separate representations. The Met Office broadly support this housing allocation, subject to the below policy amendment and the Met Office being awarded sufficient time to undertake further technical feasibility work in discussion with the HOU16 promoters to ensure new development in this location does not create “unreasonable restrictions” on existing businesses in accordance with paragraph 187 of the NPPF. Despite this site being located circa 1.32km to the west of the Cardington research site, development in this location could affect prevailing winds and in turn affect the performance and accuracy of meteorological recordings on-site.

Comment

Representation ID: 9268

Received: 27/07/2022

Respondent: Mrs Alison Myers

Development in this area will need to ensure future rail proposals are not compromised.

Support

Representation ID: 9281

Received: 27/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Jonathan Pelham

The transport link to Shortstown via foot or bike is greatly needed especially if low carbon commuting to wixams station is to be encouraged.

Support

Representation ID: 9304

Received: 28/07/2022

Respondent: Mrs Frances Baylis

This proposes a cycle link to Shortstown/Cotton End that would be close to the North end of Shocott Spring and would be an ideal cycle route to Wixams station (when and if that happens). Ideally it would connect to the existing right of way between Sefton Fields and Shocott Spring and/or with the cyclepath on the A600. Shortstown greatly needs rights of way for walking and cycling to the east towards Elstow and Wixams. Ideally to connect to the Bunyan trail and enable greater opportunity for travel on bicycle of by foot for residents of the Borough.

Support

Representation ID: 9339

Received: 28/07/2022

Respondent: Mrs Frances Baylis

This proposes a cycle link to Shortstown/Cotton End that would be close to the North end of Shocott Spring and would be an ideal cycle route to Wixams station (when and if that happens). Ideally it would connect to the existing right of way between Sefton Fields and Shocott Spring and/or with the cyclepath on the A600. Shortstown greatly needs rights of way for walking and cycling to the east towards Elstow and Wixams. Ideally to connect to the Bunyan trail and enable greater opportunity for travel on bicycle of by foot for residents of the Borough.

Object

Representation ID: 9341

Received: 28/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Eric Benton

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

The proposal to include Wilshamstead land in a Settlement Policy Area for Wixams and reduce Wilshamstead Parish by one fifith has not been put to the community.

Support

Representation ID: 9351

Received: 28/07/2022

Respondent: Mrs Sylvia Lorenzo

This proposes a cycle link to Shortstown/Cotton End that would be close to the North end of Shocott Spring and would be an ideal cycle route to Wixams station (when and if that happens). Ideally it would connect to the existing right of way between Sefton Fields and Shocott Spring and/or with the cyclepath on the A600. Shortstown greatly needs rights of way for walking and cycling to the east towards Elstow and Wixams. Ideally to connect to the Bunyan trail and enable greater opportunity for travel on bicycle of by foot for residents of the Borough.

Object

Representation ID: 9361

Received: 28/07/2022

Respondent: Mrs Philippa Darnton

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

Decimating virgin agricultural land would negatively impact the mental health of local residents; rob productive arable land when grain prices are at a crisis levels; and is an inexcusable act which would irreversibly change the historic beauty of the John Bunyan Trail as it approaches his village of Elstow. There are plenty of unallocated Brownfield areas that are ripe for development elsewhere, so opting to using agricultural land to create an isolated ghetto which is cut off from local services by busy dual carriageways is indefensible and potentially criminally negligent to the welfare of the local and wider population.

Object

Representation ID: 9364

Received: 28/07/2022

Respondent: Mrs Carole Ellison

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Yes

My understanding is that this development is within Wilstead and will treble the size of the village and change its rural nature irrevocably.

Object

Representation ID: 9374

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Ms Frances Maynard

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

This development would see encroachment on the green spaces around Wilstead, a 'rural' village. The area is home to multiple wildlife, incuding hares, badgers and deer (roe, muntjac and chinese water). There are also important public footpaths which will be degraded. There will be increased human activity which will deter wildlife from using this land as well as noise, litter and general loss of habitat and important biodiversity.

Object

Representation ID: 9429

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: L&Q Estates Limited

Agent: Pegasus Group

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Yes

The scale of housing is not specifically included in the policy. For clarity, it would be helpful if the allocations policies identified the scale of housing proposed and that these figures represent a minimum provision.
If contribution is required to fund infrastructure improvements or whether infrastructure improvements need to take place ahead of the development of the allocation should be determined through the development of the comprehensive transport assessments as part of the development management process.
This allocation should only have to contribute towards education contributions proportionally with the other allocations in the area.

Object

Representation ID: 9443

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Stephen Rutherford

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Yes

This and other developments in the plan create an 8 mile x 2 mile urban area to the south of Bedford.
If done well it will be a very big pleasant suburb. If done badly it will be a series of estates with small gaps of farmland in between.
Either way, very significant areas of countryside disappear.

Object

Representation ID: 9492

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Mrs Vi Abbott

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Yes

Object on following grounds:
1. Increased traffic - already difficult at times to access A6 from Wilstead due to volume of traffic.
2. Detrimental to wildlife in the area eg. badgers, foxes, bats, barn owls, deer, foxes, kestrels, red kites, grass snakes, stoats, pheasants, partridge, adders, egrets, all of which have been seen in the surrounding fields.
3. Loss of identity and separation of settlements i.e. Wilstead from Wixams & will result in a coalescence of settlements.
4. Fails to respect existing landscape character.
5. Will destroy existing open views to the north of Wilstead.

Object

Representation ID: 9507

Received: 27/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Leslie Pearson

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

My comments relate to issues that would directly affect the village of Wilstead (within the Parish of Wilshamstead ) where I have lived for the past 46 years.

I wish to OBJECT to the proposal included in the Bedford Local Plan 2040 to build a further 2100 homes within the Parish of Wilshamstead.

The reasons for my objections are as follows;
(i) The Bedford Local Plan 2040 proposes 2100 new homes within the Parish of Wilshamstead but under the label of ‘Wixams Extension’. This is misleading and needs to be addressed. If this proposal is eventually approved then, in reality, this would result in a massive housing expansion within the Wilstead community and conflict with the Wilstead Neighbourhood Plan 2030.

(ii) If the proposed building within Wilshamstead Parish goes ahead, it will result in the loss of hundreds of acres of rural countryside, much of which is highly productive agricultural land. It is widely accepted, nationally and internationally, that there is a need to grow more food for the growing population, so why remove the ability to do so?

(iii) If the proposed building within Wilshamstead Parish goes ahead, it will totally change the character and nature of Wilstead village away from a traditional rural community. A move in this direction has been fiercely resisted over recent years by the community of Wilstead who wish to retain its rural character in a sensible and sustainable way.

(iv) If this proposed building goes ahead, it will put unsustainable pressure on the ‘Key Service Centre’ of Wilstead. In my opinion Wilstead DOES NOT meet the defined criteria for a Key Service Area. The criteria used for Wilstead to carry this classification have in some cases been over-stated, or are incorrect or simply do not exist in reality. This classification needs to be reviewed.

(v) If this proposed building goes ahead in Wilshamstead Parish, it will place much more pressure on the local transport infrastructure which I fear will fail to adequately to cope with this and other building expansions bordering the parish. A new rail station (long promised but yet to materialize) at the Wixams will do little to help alleviate the road traffic situation to the south of Bedford. In addition, the once ‘pride of Bedford’ Park & Ride Service, which could demonstrably contribute to reducing traffic volume into and out of Bedford, no longer exists as a genuine P&R service despite the very large signs on the A421 and A6 advertising this service.

Object

Representation ID: 9534

Received: 11/07/2022

Respondent: Maxine Hendry

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

I strongly OBJECT to the proposal that the borough council are proposing to build a large development called “Wixams Extension”


In your planning map the Areas called East of Wixams comes under the boundaries of Wilstead. So
it is not true that these houses are attached to Wixams. We are all aware that this large housing development would soon be extended by the Borough Council to merge with Wilstead.

Wixams has been built with thousands of houses and currently apart from schools has no infrastructure other than a small co-op supermarket to support these families. When this
development was at the planning stage, there were many promises of shops, GP surgeries a train station etc. none of which have ever materialised after more than twenty years.

The governments focus is on sustainable development so that houses should be built in areas where there are good facilities and transport, an increase in building would put additional pressure on the roads in Wilstead, as additional traffic will use Wilstead as a cut-through to the A6 and the A600.

At present we have footpaths and bridleways within the village which are used by surrounding villages. Further development would mean that they would not have access to the countryside. To tear down trees and hedging would have a detrimental effect on wildlife and protected species.

Facilities in Wilstead are already inadequate with no dental or GP practice and residents having to travel to Ampthill or further afield. If you are unable to drive this means a bus to Bedford and then change getting a bus to Ampthill, taking at least two hours, this is if the buses are not cancelled.

Currently children from Wilstead are not able to access local schools as they are already full to capacity and could not accommodate further families.

Wilstead has always been predominately a farming village and the areas around were designed to act as a green space for the production of food

Additional developments would have an adverse effect on our limited resources within the village, it would be better to build on brownfield sites, to place large developments where the infrastructure is already adequate to support them.

Facilities available in Wilstead are only there because of the efforts of local residents and the Parish Council, who have invested their time in fund raising to provide the money to establish them. They are only adequate for our local residents and size of the current village and not for future large developments.

Object

Representation ID: 9546

Received: 17/07/2022

Respondent: Andrew Shenton

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

I wish to object to the proposal for more housing to be built on green space land to the South and East of the Wixams development. The reason I find the proposals outrageous, is because the original plan for Wixams included land for more housing, yet just 6 years ago the Council approved a request from the developer to change the use of this land from housing to commercial use. Several large distribution centres now occupy this site, resulting in an articulated vehicle driving through the village at a rate of one every two minutes. These slow, heavy vehicles have already impacted and caused damage to the surrounding roads and clog up the A6 and help to pollute the area. Plastic waste along A6 road verges next to Wixams has increased noticeably. Its an embarrassment to the town.

This knee jerk approach to long term planning policy will result in an urban sprawl, lacking infrastructure, further polluting the environment and decimating green space and the few bits of wildlife we have left.

Object

Representation ID: 9547

Received: 18/07/2022

Respondent: Dave Masters

Number of people: 2

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

We have been made aware of proposals for a further 2100 properties along and adjacent to the A6, East of Wixams.
Having now lived in Wixams for four years and seen the explosion of housing development, far beyond the plans we were shown by the Developers, DW Homes. We were promised shops, surrounding green space, a medical surgery (by 2021!), plenty of recreation space and the site to be pedestrian friendly. There are still;
1. No shops.
2. Little or no open park areas for families, for a kids kick about etc
3. No Medical Centre. ( we have to travel to Ampthill to see a GP!, 9 miles away)
4. Area often clogged with parking, cars speeding and kids on speedy electric scooters. There have been at least two quite serious accidents recently with children being knocked down.
5. Roads beyond the estate not fit for purpose, built many years ago they are not designed for the traffic levels now being experienced
6. Green space areas and pathways poorly maintained by the Council and just insufficient for the number of residents, many areas are just alleys of dog mess!

Now you are proposing further development when all the existing overloads the current infrastructure, the area is quickly developing an inner city feel, we relocated to Bedford to get away from this. It is a real shame you are letting the area decline into an urban sprawl when with a little more consideration in the planning process it could be a excellent example of rural development.
1. More wide open useable open space.
2. New local schooling, community centres and medical facilities.
3. Wide pedestrian / cycling paths.
4. Traffic management, road narrowings, road humps, double yellow lines, 20mph max speed limit (enforced)
5. Recreation areas, shaded benched areas, meadow walks, wooded areas etc.
6. Central waste collection area, bottle bank etc.
7. Houses to have more amenity space, larger gardens etc.

Bedford has expanded hugely in recent years, yet the Hospital remains largely the same, an old facility desperately n need to modernise to keep pace with the rapidly expanding local population.
There is already approval to extend Wixams to the South toward Houghton Conquest, again seemingly without any shops, schools or reasonable open space.

We suggest these proposals are an over development of a largely rural area, they will overload an already creaking infrastructure and will add to the unfortunate urbanisation of Bedford. The rest of Bedford needs to develop further to cope with this potential growth, an improved Town Centre, improved travel around Bedford and enlarged facilities generally as it develops from a medium size market town to an urbanised small city.

Comment

Representation ID: 9551

Received: 19/07/2022

Respondent: Nehemiah Anderson

I live in Wixams and am aware of the plan for 2100 extra. I understand the need for more housing so have no objection to that but with the building of more homes you need more infrastructure. It is totally irresponsible to build these homes with no plans for school's shops and alike. We keep talking about being green and carbon neutral but with this new development even if people need to pop the shop this will involve getting into the vehicles and the same goes for taking their children to school. New homes yes but also infrastructure is essential not just another concrete jungle.

Comment

Representation ID: 9579

Received: 20/07/2022

Respondent: L&Q Estates Limited

As indicated previously, L&Q is already investing in the South of Bedford area at Wixams. In
that context, it supports the intention to deliver sustainable future urban extensions within the
South of Bedford area for 7,050 new homes (alongside appropriate infrastructure), and
specifically the identification of broad areas of growth at Draft Policies HOU15 (Land South of
Wixams) and Policy HOU16 (Land at East Wixams). We note that a more detailed strategic
place making framework for the South of Bedford policy area will be adopted as a
Supplementary Planning Document, but that the Stepped Trajectory Topic Paper (April 2022)
indicates capacity of 300 dwellings at Land South of Wixams and 1,800 dwellings at Land East
of Wixams.
In our view Wixam is a sustainable location for housing growth; that is, it benefits from good
access to employment centres, it located in the Oxford – Cambridge Arc growth area, it
benefits from existing infrastructure, and has the potential to deliver additional new
infrastructure where required.

Object

Representation ID: 9607

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Wilshamstead Ward

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

I am totally opposed to the proposals for development at Wixams East , and believe that proposals are unsound for the following reasons:

Misleading representation:
• The sites at Wixams East and Wixams South have been erroneously labelled and are in fact entirely within Wilstead Parish. This appears to be a deliberate attempt by Bedford Borough Council to mislead the people of Wilstead into believing that it is a Wixams issue and doesn’t affect them. It is misleading and wrong.

Lack of clear links to Wilstead parish
• The sites will be within Wilstead Parish, but with roads existing onto the A6. Wilstead will not benefit in any way and will only be adversely affected by noise, pollution and additional traffic. It seems likely that a Community Governance Review would result in the new dwellings being annexed to Wixams Parish, so Wilstead would not even benefit from any parish precept money and a debate may well be had over which parish should benefit from any resulting CIL money.

Overdevelopment of Wilstead
• Wilstead is currently a settled village of just over 1150 dwellings. To add an additional 2100 would be to treble the size of the village over the life of the Local Plan. This is more like wanton destruction that sustainable development.
• The proposals also result in the removal of clear lines of green open space between Wilstead and Wixams, resulting in the merging of both villages, without any clear boundaries between the two.

Traffic through Wilstead
• Wilstead already endures a significant amount of through traffic along Cotton End Road as a result of commuters from Wixams. The addition of 2100 new homes, with a likely additional 4000+ vehicles will only add to this problem and destroy the rural village nature of Wilstead.

Wilstead Neighbourhood Plan
• Wilstead has been working on a Local Neighbourhood Plan for some time and is almost complete and at the point of going to a Local Referendum. The Local Plan 2040 takes no account of this and as the Wilstead plan is a long way through the process, the Borough should have taken this into consideration.

Wixams Infrastructure:
• The existing infrastructure at Wixams has been long delayed and is still woefully insufficient. It will not be able to cope with the additional pressure of 2100 new dwellings. The existing Wixams villages have become a good case study for the consequences of ‘development without infrastructure’.
• Wixams is a living example of “development without infrastructure”. Any proposal to drop even more houses on us, without first addressing the infrastructure deficit, is only going to make matters worse.
• Wixams currently lacks suitable pedestrian crossings outside schools and has recently witnessed accidents with children hit by cars. The Borough Council still has no concrete plans to address this deficit and the building of 2100 new dwellings with a likelihood of over 4000 additional vehicles will add further pressure to Wixams roads (including the A6) as residents of the proposed new developments gravitate towards the existing Wixams settlement.
• There is still a missing link of cycle path from Wixams into Bedford Town. This results in cyclists having to take a dangerous route along the A^, or a long detour via Elstow. If such a small basic piece of infrastructure can’t be delivered, what hope do we have for the bigger items? It’s a nonsense to even suggest that the local infrastructure will be able to accommodate such significant additional development.

Roads and Highways
• The opening of Wixams station, scheduled for late 2024 will act as a ‘pull’ for yet more traffic into Wixams from the surrounding areas.
• There are currently significant HGV movements through WIxams as a result of local distribution depots and warehousing. Additional housing so close to the existing Wixams development will result in a dangerous combination of more cars mixed with significant existing HGV traffic.

Environmental concerns
• The potential loss of green space on the sites proposed is worrying and goes against the need for protection of the environment. There is currently a clear and obvious divide between the villages of Wixams and Wilstead. However, the proposed development at Wixams East and Wixams South looks like it will result in a major loss of green space and wildlife habitat, with the two separate villages merging into one, as a continuous sprawl of development, with no clear delineation between the villages.

Flood Risk
• The Wixams East site is immediately adjacent to a flood risk area, with potentially hazardous consequences for residents who buy houses in that area, should there be any incidents of flooding, as has occurred a number of times in recent years along the River Great Ouse

Object

Representation ID: 9613

Received: 26/07/2022

Respondent: Mr John Skoyles

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

I OBJECT TO THE UNSOUND AND UNJUSTIFIED PROPOSAL TO BUILD 1800 HOMES AT A WIXAMS EAST EXTENSION ON THE FOLLOWING GROUNDS :-

The proposed development will effectively merge Wilstead and Wixams to create an urban sprawl from Shortstown to Kempston Hardwick and beyond – creating a Greater Bedford in effect. Wilstead has a quiet rural and historic character with surrounding green spaces which should be maintained and needs protecting.

Too much growth is planned in too small an area. Wilstead and Wixams are both Key Service Centres. Nowhere else in the Borough are 2 KSCs so close together. The scoring to designate Wilstead as a KSC is flawed and needs bringing up to date. It is a rural service centre really.

There are no proposals to enhance the existing overloaded doctors / dentists / chemists or food shopping facilities, which will mean additional car journeys with consequential adverse effect on air quality and climate change. After many years of extensive house building at Wixams, it still has no health provisions and only one small supermarket. These factors place additional strain on already stretched local services.

Traffic levels on the A6 / A421 are very high. Exiting Wilstead onto the A6 is very difficult at peak times. The proposal will make matters far worse. The planned new Wixams rail station is still just a plan – and has created much greater volumes of road traffic and pollution as a result.

A lot of traffic uses Wilstead as a short cut to the A600 with speeding being a significant problem, these plans will make the situation far worse.

A new community woodland has recently been created off Duck End Lane to provide for peaceful recreation. Building 1800 new homes plus 3 schools on its boundary will have a serious adverse effect on Wilstead villagers’ enjoyment of this area

Proposed site is key agricultural land. No building should be done on greenfield sites.

Object

Representation ID: 9616

Received: 27/07/2022

Respondent: Ms Susan Skoyles

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

I object to the plan to build 1800 houses at so called East Wixams.

The development is actually within the parish boundary of Wilstead.
It means building far too many houses on a valuable greenfield site which currently prevents the coalescence of Wilstead and Wixams.
The plan does not specify any additional medical provision even though there is still none at the Wixams development or in Wilstead now.
If it goes ahead, a ribbon development will be built encompassing Shortstown, Wilstead, Wixams and Kempston Hardwick – probably also Houghton Conquest and other nearby villages.
Currently there is heavy traffic on the A6, especially at peak times, very often with a tailback from Cow Bridge lights to the roundabout turn for Elstow. Also exiting from Wilstead onto the A6 can be difficult - the plan will make matters even worse , with a further deterioration of air quality and climate change.
Wilstead is used as a rat-run between the A6 and A600 with problems of speeding and serious on-street parking on some roads, especially Cotton End Road – the plan will make matters far worse.
Wilstead’s designation as a KSC is flawed and should be changed to a rural service centre as the data is well out of date. For example: there is now no Doctor’s surgery, most of the length of the village (Cotton End Road) has no bus service, only one shop/post office and the number of residents is overstated.
Having 2 KSCs so close together (Wilstead and Wixams) must be bad planning and does not exist elsewhere within the borough.
The planned 1800 homes would be very close to the new woodland planted off Duck End Lane in Wilstead and would not be consistent with an area for peaceful recreation.

Object

Representation ID: 9622

Received: 26/07/2022

Respondent: Mr John Dillnutt

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

I am writing this email to object to the proposed housing developments planned for Wixams East which falls into the Wilstead parish and the Wixams South development which also falls into the Wilstead parish, my objections are, the surrounding villages and road networks will not be able to cope with the extra vehicles that will potentially be using them, the impact on the wildlife that use the area's for their habit, the outstanding beauty of the area's which people enjoy walking and studying the wildlife and it's inhabitants, there is a possibility off that the nearby villages will have deal with the extra school places which the schools are near to capacity and would not be able to cope with the extra children.

Object

Representation ID: 9653

Received: 26/07/2022

Respondent: Ms Natalie Brine

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

As a resident of Wilstead for the past two decades, I wish to formally object to the planned 2,100 new houses ie Land South of Wixams (300 houses) and Land East of Wixams (1,800 houses) that are part of the Bedford Borough Council Local Plan 2040. These developments are within the Wilstead Parish although they have been shown in the draft Local Plan as a “Wixams Extension”, which means that the Plan itself is inaccurate and could be misleading for residents when assessing the plan. There are a further 1000 homes proposed for Shortstown, which are next to the Wilstead Parish Boundary.
I have serious concerns about the detrimental impact that this large-scale development will have on both the environment, and on the health and quality of life of the current residents in this area.
These are my main concerns:
1. The development will result in the loss of over 400 acres of rural countryside, home to numerous species of wildlife. This represents a significant loss of the natural beauty of the area, with negative repercussions on residents’ well being. We are all acutely aware of the benefits of green outdoor spaces on good mental health. There would be a substantial loss of public footpaths and bridleways, so important for exercise and wellbeing. Current residents, who chose their homes for their rural location, would end up living within an urban sprawl, as Wilstead would be swallowed up by the development, merge with Wixams and no longer be a village in its own right.
2. The addition of such a large number of houses equates to the influx of several thousand cars, with the resulting high levels of traffic congestion, noise and pollution, with detrimental effects to the quality of air. There is already a high level of traffic congestion in the area with long queues forming on the A421, around the A6 and the A600. A large volume of cars already cut through Wilstead to get between the A600 and A6 and the substantial increase in cars would only aggravate the traffic problems leading to even more pollution.
3. There is an increased risk of flooding from the replacement of natural green belts with concrete resulting in excessive run off of rainwater. Given the extreme weather events of recent times, flash flooding is far more likely.
4. Equally, the addition of so many homes and the migration of 1000s of people to the area would put strain on the natural resources, such as the water table and result in the oversubscription of key service such as hospitals, GPs, schools and care homes.

I would be very grateful for your consideration of the points I have raised as my objection to the planned housing developments in Wixams/Wilstead.