Issues and Options

Thank you for inviting Highways England to comment on the Council’s initial stage of your Local Plan review. Highways England operate, maintain and improve the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in England. Our network carries a third of traffic and two thirds of all freight, it helps to unlock the social benefits of mobility and is critical to regional and national economies. In the area within and surrounding Bedford Borough, we have responsibility for the A421, A428, M1 and A1. Highways England do not have any specific comments with regards to the six spatial distributions that are represented in the current consultation but would request early engagement once these options have been narrowed down. We would also like to have more details on how the Council proposes to assess the impact of the Local Plan growth on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) and review any transport models to be used for that purpose. All the growth options presented within this consultation will have an impact on the SRN and going forward we will need to be confident that those impacts can be fully mitigated, and those mitigations included in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan supporting the new Local Plan. I look forward to working with the Council as the Local Plan is progressed and if you have any questions with regards to the comments made in my letter, please do not hesitate to contact me.