Site Assessment Pro Formas

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Representation ID: 5557

Received: 06/09/2021

Respondent: L&P Chess Ltd

Agent: Eclipse Planning Service

Site Assessment Proformas – Site ID no.951 Land West of A1, Wyboston

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Representation ID: 7562

Received: 21/09/2021

Respondent: L&P Chess Ltd

Agent: Eclipse Planning Service

These representations are made on behalf of L & P Chess Ltd, owners of land west of the A1 at Wyboston now given the identification number 951. They follow the representations made by Eclipse Planning Services in response to the Issues and Options consultation and Call for Sites in 2020.
For ease of reference, a summary of the characteristics of the site is set out below.
The site is sustainably located on the eastern edge of Bedford Borough. Much more importantly, it is also located on the edge of St Neots, Eaton Socon, Eynesbury and Little Paxton; an area of over 37,000 people and a major employment and service centre.
The site has a gross area of about 40.3 hectares. Since the 2020 Issues and Option Stage the balance of land uses put forward has been further considered. Land previously earmarked for a local centre has now been identified as an Electric Vehicle Trunk Road Service Area (EV TRSA). This is illustrated on Drawing Number E4054/703/A prepared by Wormald Burrows Partnership Ltd, civil engineering consultants, attached to our Addendum to Inform the Call for Sites Submission, dated August 2021 and submitted separately.
At present, one of the major issues for electric vehicle technology is their limited charge range, and a significant constraint to their increased use is the lack of charging facilities en route rather than at home. The provision of such facilities on the strategic highway network could assist three groups of users: not only those recharging on long journeys, but also people working on the site or nearby, and others within a 5 kilometre radius living in flats, without off-street parking or otherwise lacking in recharging facilities at home. Such a facility could also support other services such as a small retail unit, café and gym.
In addition to the EV TRSA, the site could accommodate in the order of 370 dwellings, 13.58ha of employment land, 5.4ha of open space and about 3.3 ha for boundary landscaping and a buffer to mitigate the proximity to the A1.
At this stage, however, there remains flexibility in the balance of uses that can be accommodated on the site.
The site would thus make a significant contribution to meeting housing requirements in a sustainable location. At the Issues and Options stage, we considered it to be a first-choice location even if the residual housing requirement was at the low end of the range (5,000 dwellings) then put forward; now, when the residual requirement is in the order of 12,500 dwellings, we believe there is as even stronger case for its allocation.
The site would also make a significant contribution to meeting employment requirements. We say more about the consistency of the four options in respect of employment later; here it is sufficient to note that the 13.58 hectares proposed for employment uses on the site could contribute 7.5% of the largest figure of 179 hectares in any of the four options - Option 2d. Moreover, it located as well as anywhere on the strategic highway network in the Borough since it is accessible from both the major north-south route (A1) and east-west route (A428/A421).
Our further representations in response to the Call for Sites Assessment are accompanied by technical reports on potential noise, transport and mineral constraints raised by the Council They confirm that safe access to the site can be achieved, that housing can be accommodated on the site without detriment to amenity from noise and that any development would not sterilise a commercially viable mineral reserve due to site, access and utility infrastructure constraints.