Responding to CBC Local Plan Consultation

Helping you respond to the latest Central Bedfordshire Local Plan Public Consultation

Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) is currently reviewing 452 possible development sites throughout the Council area. This consultation will eventually lead to a finalised list for the upcoming Local Plan.

Using Central Government guidelines, Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) have allocated an additional 25,500 new homes to be built in our area by 2050.  This is in addition to the 44,756 homes already included in the 2015-2035 Local Plan.

To accommodate this additional housing, it is necessary create a new Local Plan which will run from 2028 to 2050 and will include the building of the outstanding homes from our current adopted plan at an average rate of 2,150 new dwellings per year. 

Apart from housing, the new Local Plan will include provision for new employment (e.g. Commercial development), renewable energy systems and green spaces.

Call For Sites

There is a map showing all the sites that are currently being reviewed following the councils ‘call for sites’. The map can be zoomed to see local sites edged in red. Clicking on a site gives the site reference and the purpose – not all are for ‘residential’.

Use the Toggle Layers drop down menu to show sites that have already been considered unsuitable. Using the Planning Policy option will show which areas are within the Green Belt (offering some planning policy protection).

Call for Sites Central Bedfordshire Map

This consultation is separate from the planning application process. Some submitted sites may already be the subject of planning applications, but comments made through this consultation will only be considered as part of preparing the new Local Plan. To comment on a planning application visit the CBC planning portal.

What happens when

The first stage is for Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) to source areas of land as potential sites to meet these future land requirements. More background information and the schedule for drafting the Local Plan can be found in our article on the CBC Local Plan

The consultation on Submitted Sites runs until 17th August and invites comments from residents to object or support possible future development of a site. Each site can be individually commented on.

CPRE Bedfordshire urges everyone to input to this consultation to help shape the Bedfordshire landscape and communities

How to respond – the detailed process

The Council are encouraging residents to respond using its online system. These are individual responses so more than one householder can comment.

Registering to comment

You will need to register before adding the first comment. After entering an email address, a verification code will be emailed and then you are asked to create a password. It is simple and only needs doing once.

Viewing the sites for proposed development

All the sites are listed on the CBC consultation webpage:

CBC submitted sites consultation website

Use the purple button to “find out how to have you say on submitted sites”.

The sites are categorised by Parish, but this means that some sites of interest might be outside the immediate parish so it is essential to look at surrounding parishes.

Within the Parish tab, the sites are listed individually. It is useful to refer to the ‘call for site’ map (see above) to see the location and size in context to communities and the landscape.

Commenting on individual sites

CBC are looking for residents to provide comments on local concerns and the reasons for them. They are requesting views on immediately local sites. The consultation also invites residents to include sites that they would be prefer to see developed.

It is a good idea to draft the comments that you want to submit in a separate documents so that you can copy and paste them. The same comment can be put against any number of sites. If there is a particular issues, e.g. traffic at a particular location, than this can be included for numerous sites.

Be aware that the comments boxes for each site only allow you to enter 100 words. Having concise direct comments is preferential.

The issues that could be raised include:

• Green Belt land: Generally covers the southern and western parts of Central Bedfordshire, outside the main settlements. Within the Green Belt there is a general presumption against inappropriate development.
• Important Countryside Gaps and Preventing Coalescence: preventing the physical or visual coalescence of settlements or settlement ‘ends’. Also having regard to maintain the individual identity of towns, villages and settlement ‘ends’
• Outside Settlement Envelopes: Settlement Envelopes provide a distinction between settlements and the countryside. Only community facilities proportionate to the scale of the settlement should be considered within a settlement envelope. For Settlement Envelopes of Small Villages, development should be limited to infill development, small-scale employment uses and community facilities.
• Landscape character and value: Safeguarding intrinsic character, scenic beauty and perceptual qualities of the landscape 
• Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB): Only includes areas to the very southwest of the region.
• Greensand Ridge Nature Improvement Area: this initiative aims to achieve a real and lasting difference to the habitats, species and landscape of the Greensand Ridge. 
• Designated and non-designated heritage assets: consideration of preservation and enhancement of heritage and historically significant locations.
• Traffic and Highways: consideration of safety, access, severance of communities and traffic flow. Also, consideration of users on existing footpaths, bridleways and cycleway links
• Other local issues: such as flooding or recreational use.

Some sites submitted this time were also considered in the last Local Plan preparation. The reasons for their inclusion or rejection can be seen in a previous Council document. This will give some reasons that may also still apply to the current consultation.

Preliminary Site Assessment Results July 2017

Local Help

Some Parishes and communities have Local Action Groups. They aim to represent communities and provide a voice for residents. Many Local Action Groups are running public meetings to help residents sometimes alongside Parish Councils – providing information and guidance on commenting on local sites.

Parish Councils are also running similar events – look out for local communications in your area.

Public meetings that we are aware of include:

• Flitwick:  Friday 7th August 9 and 12 pm at the village Hall, Thursday 6th August, 5.30pm-8.30pm, Davis Suite, The Rufus Centre hosted by FLAG.
• Harlington: Drop in event Saturday 8th August between 9 – 12 pm at the Parish Hall hosted by HVAG & supported by PC.
• Haynes: Cllr Hares & PC Awareness event Saturday 8th August between 10am – 12pm in Haynes Village Hall, Northwood Rd MK45 3QB.
• Houghton Conquest: Cllr Hares & PC Awareness event Saturday 8th August 2pm to 4pm at village hall, High St. MK45 3LF.
• Maulden: Wednesday 5th August 5pm – 9pm at the Church Hall
• Shillington: PC Awareness event on Tuesday 4th August at 7.30pm in the village hall.
• Stondon: Event on 10th August 6pm at Community Centre
• Sutton: 5th August, Sutton Village hall 7pm
• Tingrith: PC Awareness event Wednesday 5th August 7.30pm at Church of St Nicholas. Hosted by PC.
• Westoning: Wednesday 5th August, 6.30-8.30pm at the Village Hall.

Please follow local Facebook pages for further information.

There is some information on our Local Action Group page for contacts and specific Local Plan assistance.

Local Action Groups

Local Action Groups FLAG and HVAG have suggested reasons that you can use to object to specific local sites.

Holistic View

CPRE Bedfordshire are concerned that assessing individual sites loses sight of the wider implications of developments in Bedfordshire. The consequences of the Universal Park are yet to be seen, as are the plans for a New Town at Tempsford. Additionally, the cumulative effect of developments does not necessarily get considered if sites are reviewed in isolation. This is particularly relevant to traffic, other infrastructure and services.