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New searchStaploe Parish Council are concerned that holding this consultation during the Covid-19 pandemic will exclude those unable to access digital technology. Many of our residents have no internet access or extremely poor internet connections eg. in Upper Staploe and Honeydon. This means that they are unable to participate in local parish meetings and consultations and download large documents. We appreciate that Bedford Borough Council have been given a deadline to review the Local Plan by January 2023 and that it is vital to have a valid Local Plan in place but we feel Bedford Borough Council should request an extension beyond the January 2023 deadline in view of the pandemic. This would also enable them to gather results of the SHMA, LNHA and the 2021 Census. We would also like you to include an aim to ensure that 100% of properties have superfast broadband within the next 5 years.
Staploe Parish Council would like you to include a vision for high speed broadband to be available to 100% of properties including existing ones within the next 5 years.
Staploe Parish Council agree – it is to be hoped that the number of houses required will be reduced when the government reviews its standard methodology later this year. Therefore we would support the shortest possible plan period. Although we would like the Borough to be given more time to review the plan in view of Covid-19 so that parishes can consult with all their residents. This would require an extension to the three year deadline to review the plan beyond the current deadline of January 2023. We are concerned that the government consultation on changes to the planning system opened in August 2020 would result in a need for the Borough to supply almost as many houses (21,263 houses by 2040) as the 2014 figures. We don't believe this is sustainable for our Borough as it results in a huge 28% increase in the number of homes in our Borough. We believe Bedford Borough Council should campaign for there to be a 25% cap on the number of homes built in a local authority area.
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 object to the brown, the yellow and the red options because they all propose large scale development in the countryside which will dramatically alter the character of the countryside with no new provision of sustainable transport. We would support the grey, dispersed option as development would be in proportion to the size of the settlement and we feel that most settlements can sustain some additional development without dramatically changing their nature. Staploe Parish Council would support a small amount of development in our parish in response to locally identified needs under the direction of a neighbourhood plan. We propose to prepare a neighbourhood plan which will include a housing needs survey. We feel that there is too much uncertainty about where the East West rail stations will be to deliver the houses needed in time and the orange option may not be possible as the northern parkway station is certainly not confirmed and little more than a “nice to have” on Bedford Borough Council’s wish list at the moment. We are particularly concerned about any proposals for large scale development in our parish for the following reasons: 1. We are open countryside. Development here is against policy guidelines. Our parish is classed as open countryside. According to the Local Plan 2030 the following policies apply to development in the countryside. Policy 65 - Reuse of rural buildings in the countryside ii. Policy 66 - The replacement and extension of dwellings in the countryside. iii. Policy 67 - Affordable housing to meet local needs in the rural area. iv. Policy 68 - Accommodation for rural workers. v. Neighbourhood Development Plans which have been ‘made’ by Bedford Borough Council. None of these would permit a large scale urban development in the countryside such as that proposed in the brown option. The Local Plan 2030 states: “6.18 In considering the location of development in rural areas, the distinction between settlements and areas of countryside is established by defining Settlement Policy Areas. The aim of the local plan is to direct development to within the defined Settlement Policy Area boundaries and specific site allocations. Within the countryside it is the intention to maintain the existing open nature, prevent the coalescence of settlements and resist the encroachment of development into the countryside.” The brown option would mean that development would not be within a Settlement Policy Area, it would not maintain the existing open nature of the countryside and it would deliberately cause the coalescence of settlements (St. Neots, Eaton Socon, Duloe and Staploe) and encourage the encroachment of development into the countryside. The land in our parish is fertile farm land. The draft vision of your Issues and Options Paper on p13 states that “Tackling climate change and adapting to and mitigating against its effects will be at the heart of new development throughout the borough including facilitating sustainable food production.” Building on fertile farm land will not facilitate sustainable food production. The A1 has been a clear line delimiting the higher density development in Huntingdonshire from the rural nature of our parish in north Bedfordshire for 50 years. 2. We have no infrastructure and development would not be sustainable Our three tiny hamlets of Duloe (approx. 40 houses), Staploe (approx. 60 houses), Honeydon (approx. 30 houses) have no village hall (it is about to be demolished), pavements, schools, doctors surgeries, shops, or post office. There are no sustainable travel options. There are no pavements into St Neots, the roads are not safe enough for cyclists – they are narrow and the edges are often in poor repair. We have one bus per week which goes to St Neots for two hours on a Thursday. Everyone is dependent on car use and the roads are narrow and often single track with sharp bends. Children have to travel for around 45 minutes to get to secondary schools in Bedfordshire and there are very few places in the schools in St. Neots. Broadband is extremely poor in parts of the parish – along the Bushmead Road, in Upper Staploe and in Honeydon and it is not particularly fast in much of Staploe. 3. St. Neots does not have capacity to serve a large scale development in Bedfordshire Any large scale development would inevitably add pressure to existing services in St. Neots. St. Neots already has large scale development to the east in the form of Loves Farm and Wintringham Park which amount to around 4000 houses. We would be very surprised if St Neots Town Council supported a large scale development in our parish. It can take weeks to get an appointment at the local surgery in Eaton Socon and there is fierce competition for school places in St Neots and Eaton Socon. Those from out of county are naturally bottom of the list. We believe any large scale development would require the construction of primary and secondary schools which would be expensive. Residents would inevitably use St Neots station. As there is no public transport and the station is on the opposite side of the town residents would drive and the station car park is already full. There are already restrictions to accessing St Neots from the west in the form of the A1 and the river with limited access points creating serious bottlenecks. Traffic accessing the town from our parish would have to travel through residential areas leading to increased congestion and pollution. 4. There are specific issues which make development unsuitable in our parish There is a high pressure gas main running through the parish and a large network of pylons and overhead high voltage power cables. There is a flood risk from Duloe Brook – particularly west of the A1 near the junction with the B645. Our ecology: • We have a nationally rare wildflower called Ornithogalum pyrenaicum throughout much of the parish which is recognised in our extensive roadside nature reserves but which is also distributed on footpaths and field boundaries throughout the parish. It is only found in one other area in the UK near Bath. • Also present are the rare plants Crested Cow Wheat (Melampyrum cristatum) and Sulphur Clover (Trifolium ochroleucon). • Water voles – one of the 10 rarest mammals in the UK • An exceptionally large population of skylarks • Barn owls and little owls • Kingfishers, buzzards and red tailed kites • Many roosting bats • Great crested newts Grass snakes - particularly in Honeydon 5. Development near the A1 will lead to noise, air quality issues and may reduce options to upgrade the A1 in situ. Houses built close to the A1 will be subjected to noise from the road and poor air quality. Staploe Parish Council feel it is important to retain the option to upgrade the A1 in situ – without having to build a whole new road further to the west. If houses are built close to the A1 this option will no longer be available. 6. We value our tranquil hamlets, clean air and historic buildings People choose to live in our parish because it is a tranquil place. Almost every house backs onto fields and looks out onto rolling fields. Residents feel that major development would completely destroy the rural nature of our parish and our local landscapes. We have 16 grade II listed buildings in the parish and three scheduled monuments: • Duloe: The Anchor (5, Duloe Lane), The Thatched Cottage (39, Duloe Lane), the Dovecote (49, Woodhouse Lane), Maye Cottage (53, Woodhouse Lane). • Staploe: Walnut Cottage (35, Staploe Lane), Old Farm Cottage • Bassmead (Upper Staploe): moated enclosure (scheduled monument) and Basmead Manor Farmhouse • Honeydon: Dairy Farmhouse (Begwary Lane), Chestnuts Farmhouse (Lower Honeydon Lane) • Staploe Road on the way to Wyboston: Eaton Tithe Farmhouse • Bushmead Road: The Camps and Fishponds (scheduled monument), The Grotto, Cottage East of Bushmead Cross, • Bushmead: Bushmead Priory (scheduled monument and the Priory building is also listed), The Coach House, Bushmead Priory House, Blaysworth Manor Large scale development would damage the setting of these historic buildings which are valued by the local community and as a national historic asset. 7. Large scale development in our parish could not be delivered quickly Due to the level of infrastructure required and negotiations needed across county boundaries, and with Highways England regarding the A1 and with East West Rail (due to go just south of our parish) any large scale develpment would require careful planning and take a long time. This could lead to short to medium term housing shortages. 8. Lack of employment There are no employment opportunities in the area. Residents of any new development would have to travel for work and this would likely be by car leading to increased car use. As previously mentioned St. Neots rail station car park is already at capacity at busy times. 9. Cross border concerns In addition to concerns about schools and transport already mentioned there are further concerns about how a large development adjacent to St Neots would be managed. Our parishioners already experience issues accessing services such as police. Cambridgeshire police will not attend and Bedfordshire police take a long time to arrive, argue that we are not in Bedfordshire, don’t know where we are, and we have very few patrols because we are on the edge of the Borough. Much of the antisocial behaviour and suspected drug dealing we see in our parish is suspected to be cross border, probably from St. Neots but we see little evidence of cooperation between Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire police to tackle the issue. This would be exacerbated if there was major development in the area. We are served by Sandy fire service rather than St. Neots with the inevitable delays that this causes. We are not supposed to use the local recycling centre in St Neots as it is in Huntingdonshire, we are expected to drive to Bedford 13 miles away. The swimming pool in St Neots is at capacity and experiences frequent long queues at popular times. It is funded by local council taxpayers in Huntingdonshire. A large development in our parish would put additional pressure on such services funded by Huntingdonshire taxpayers. Any Community Infrastructure Levy funds from the development would go to Bedford Borough Council but services in St Neots would be put under pressure with no additional money for infrastructure, We believe the cross border nature of our area could make administration of a large scale settlement very difficult and lead to delays in its delivery.
• Primary AND SECONDARY schools • Doctors • Public transport • Improved roads and traffic calming / average speed cameras • Park and ride schemes – particularly north of Bedford. • Safe cycling and walking routes • Superfast broadband to all properties
Close to urban centres such as Bedford but not in open countryside and with good access to public transport.
A parkway station north of Bedford would be a huge benefit to local residents capturing the benefits with access to employment in other regions of the Oxford Cambridge arc. Access to superfast broadband will be key for businesses and residents.
No. Although it is possible that some retail and office space may become available to be repurposed for housing as a result of changes in ways of shopping / working since Covid-19 struck.
We feel that electric charging points and solar panels should be included as standard. There should be more cycle lanes. Ensure office developments over a certain size have showers available so people can cycle to work. Improve broadband and office space in homes so people can work from home. Houses should be well insulated and developments should maintain the character of the area.
We feel that electric charging points and solar panels should be included as standard. There should be more cycle lanes. Ensure office developments over a certain size have showers available so people can cycle to work. Improve broadband and office space in homes so people can work from home. Houses should be well insulated and developments should maintain the character of the area.
