Bedford Borough Local Plan 2040 Plan for Submission

Comment

Representation ID: 9605

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Wilshamstead Ward

Whilst recognising the housing targets that have been set for Bedford Borough and the urgent need for new housing throughout the UK, I believe that in the Local Plan 2040, Bedford Borough is proposing the wrong type of housing in totally the wrong area.

In my opinion, the most pressing housing issue to address today, is the need to build more homes for young people. For many young people a house of their own is only a dream, as they remain either trapped at home with parents or in expensive rented accommodation.

There tends to be a general movement of young people towards urban areas, due to better job opportunities and better social and recreational facilities. Therefore, what the Borough Council is failing to address, is the need for starter homes and apartments in urban areas, where younger people can get a foot on the housing ladder.

The bulk of the Local Plan 2040 in the south of the Borough will lead to the destruction of open green space and result in 4 and 5 bedroom houses which are only affordable to those who are already home owners and looking to scale up. The Local Plan 2040 is light on sustainability and environmental concerns and looks to be a rushed process to meet national housing targets without much thought to the consequences.

Object

Representation ID: 9606

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 South, 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.

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

Comment

Representation ID: 9608

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Wilshamstead Ward

Kempston Hardwick (HOU14)
Likewise, the proposal for up to 3800 dwellings (With a potential for over 7500 additional vehicles) at Kempston Hardwick, to the west of Wixams, will add similar pressures. It will also result in a more or less continuous areas of development from Stewartby, through Kempston Hardwick and Wixams, to Wilstead, Elstow and Shortstown.

The area will change fundamentally, from one of small, rural villages to a large urban sprawl. The building of a large new settlement at Kempston Hardwick, so close to another new settlement at Wixams, is a recipe for traffic chaos, as the roads will not be able to absorb such a huge amount of additional traffic. It wall have sever environmental consequences from day one.

Comment

Representation ID: 9609

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Wilshamstead Ward

Elstow (EMP5)
This is proposed to be developed into a science park. However, the Borough Council has an appalling record on employment sites, failing to attract significant skilled employment in sufficient numbers.

The result is a vast network of warehouses with either low-skilled roles or serviced via automation, with little obvious benefit to the local community. Those in warehouse jobs that exist are often bussed in from elsewhere, which is against the principle of sustainable development. Therefore there will be little confidence that the Borough can follow through on its idea of a science park.

Even if the proposals for a science park were fruitful, it would again result in yet more vehicles coming along the A6 to access the site from outside and would bring an additional burden to already congested roads and be a contributing factor to the endless development sprawl from Stewartby and Wootton, via Wixams and Wisltead, through to Shortstown and Cardington.

Comment

Representation ID: 9610

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Wilshamstead Ward

Development from Central Bedfordshire Council
The Local Plan 2040 appears to take no account of the significant amount of development proposed by Central Bedfordshire Council in their own Local Plan, which is immediately south of Wixams and Wilstead. (Wixams being a shared development between the authorities). The cumulative effect of both Local plans will be to put overwhelming press on local roads and services around the A6 through Wilstead and Wixams. The failure to consider this issue will only be to the detriment of good planning and the soundness of either Local Plan.