Site Assessment Pro Formas

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Representation ID: 8569

Received: 03/09/2021

Respondent: Rapleys

These representations to the Bedford Borough Council Local Plan Regulation 18 and relevant supporting
documents have been prepared by Rapleys on behalf of Wrenbridge Land Ltd / Fiera in association with
Unilever (herein referred to as ‘Wrenbridge / Fiera’). They seek to advance the case for the allocation of
Colworth Garden Village (‘CGV’) as a new settlement option, concurrently providing for, and facilitating, the
expansion and growth of Colworth Science Park, within the Local Plan Review in the context of
• The technical work undertaken to date, and
• The Oxford-Cambridge Arc.
Colworth Garden Village Proposals
Wrenbridge / Fiera have a promotion agreement with Unilever over the agricultural land known as Lee Farm
which surrounds the Colworth Science Park to the north-west of the settlement of Sharnbrook. Unilever are
the largest occupying tenant of the Science Park. A Site Location Plan is enclosed at Appendix 1.
The CGV proposal comprises:
• 4,500 mixed tenure dwellings
• Circa 7ha of employment land allowing for the expansion of the Science Park
• Associated social and community infrastructure, including primary schools, local shops
• Associated green and blue infrastructure including the retention of existing woodland habitat, golf
course, etc and the creation of new habitat, playing fields, Suds features, bunding & landscaping
within a ‘country park’ etc
• Two new access roads to the A6 including the creation of a new access from the Science Park
through the development, and an assumption that access to Santa Pod will also be made available
along the Forty Foot Land route
• A parkway railway station which would have two platforms, pedestrian footbridge, passenger
waiting facilities, bus interchange and parking for some 500 cars and cycles.
To this extent, Wrenbridge/Fiera are working closely with the owners of the Colworth Science Park as they
will be a beneficiary of the CGV development proposals (see later paragraphs in this submission).

TECHNICAL WORK UNDERTAKEN -BACKGROUND TO THE PROMOTION
The site, including the Science Park, was originally submitted for consideration in the Call for Sites exercises
held in 2016 and 2017 and was subsequently identified as a proposed allocation in the January 2018 Regulation
19 Submission version of the Bedford Local Plan 2035. However, due to Bedford Borough Council (‘BBC’)
concerns over the deliverability of the allocation relating to noise mitigation (from Santa Pod) and the railway
station, in May 2018 the Council considered that it was not possible to continue with the submission of the
plan as originally intended. As a result, a new Regulation 19 Submission version plan was consulted upon in
September 2018 which shortened the Plan period to 2030, reduced the overall housing requirement and thus
removed the CGV proposed allocation. Following Examination during the Summer of 2019, the Bedford Local
Plan 2030 was formally adopted in January 2020 (without the inclusion of the CGV).
As part of the 2030 plan preparation process, a considerable body of technical evidence and representations has been amassed in relation to the site and is available on the BBC website. This has subsequently been
supplemented with further technical information (as specifically requested by Officers on matters such as
noise mitigation and layout design, heritage impact, viability, and an updated rail outline business case) as
RAPLEYS LLP 2
part of the immediate review process of the adopted 2030 Local Plan required under policy 1 through the Call
for Sites and Issues and Options consultations of August 2020. A schedule of submitted documentation is
attached at Appendix 2.
Notwithstanding this, Officers have made further requests for additional information on (i) ecology (through
English Nature) – specifically the impact on nearby designated sites, (ii) the A6 road corridor traffic impact
and mitigation options through the use of the strategic model (which only became available in late spring),
(iii) alternative solutions for noise and design mitigation, and (iv) rail.
Wrenbridge/Fiera consider that everything that can reasonably be expected to support a local plan proposed
allocation at this Regulation 18 stage of the plan-making process has already been produced and submitted to
BBC. Indeed, the body of evidence sitting behind the CGV proposal is vastly more both in quantum and level
of technical detail than has been submitted, as part of the Local Plan 2040 review process, for any of the
other new settlement options being promoted, particularly those that BBC appear to be favouring within the
Regulation 18 documentation.
In this context, no further technical submissions to support the promotion of CGV are being made at this time.
The current body of evidence, as referenced in Appendix 2, confirms the site to be sustainable in
environmental, economic and social terms. Further submissions are not necessary. The allocation of CGV is
merited (and is further underscored by the emerging themes of the OxCamb Arc - see below) and, in this
respect, Wrenbridge/Fiera looks forward to collaboratively working with Officers over the coming period to
inform its inclusion in the Regulation 19 Plan.