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Matter for Decision:
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Joint Response to the
Bedford Borough Council Draft Plan
(Regulation 18) Strategy Options and Draft Policies consultation |
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Why the decision had
to be made (and any alternative options): |
To provide the Councils’ comments to this
consultation in recognition of the opportunities it provides to influence the
emerging Bedford Borough Council Draft Plan. |
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The Executive
Councillor’s decision(s): |
Agreed the response, jointly with South Cambridgeshire
District Council, to the Bedford
Borough Council Draft Plan (Regulation 18) Strategy Options and Draft
Policies consultation |
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Reasons for the decision: |
Background Bedford Borough Council is preparing a new local plan for
the period up to 2040. The review of their current local plan which covers
the period to 2030 is being progressed at pace to reflect emerging policies
around the Oxford to Cambridge Arc. The council need to submit their new
local plan for examination by January 2023 to ensure their plan will remain
up to date and to demonstrate five-year land supply. An initial issues and options consultation and call for
sites took place during summer 2020. The current consultation is on Strategy
Options and Draft Policies. This consultation started on 29th June
and closes on 3rd September 2021. Given the consultation dates there it would not have been
possible to take this item to the last meeting Planning & Transport
Scrutiny Committee on 29th June, nor to the next scheduled meeting
on 28th September. The consultation and supporting documents can be accessed
on Bedford Borough Council’s website: https://www.bedford.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning-policy-its-purpose/local-plan-review/ Summary of Strategy Options and Draft Policies
consultation The Strategy Options and Draft Policies includes the
following key components: Four themes are proposed to reflect the vision for the
future: Greener; More accessible; More prosperous; Better Places. The standard method for calculating housing requirements
for Bedford is 1,275 dwellings per year. The current adopted local plan
requirement is 970 dwellings per year. Existing commitments (planning
permissions, allocations from current local plans and an allowance for
windfall, which together total 13,000 dwellings) mean that based on the
standard method figure of 1,275 dwellings p.a. the new local plan will need
to allocate land to provide a minimum of 12,500 new dwellings. There is a need for 171ha of employment land (B type use)
with 48ha in supply with a shortfall of 123ha to be allocated in the emerging
plan. The council intends to allocate a number of large scale sites that are
well connected to the transport network. These sites will be business parks
for high technology firms associated with the Oxford Cambridge Arc. The issues and options consultation suggested six
development locations for growth. The consultation responses favoured
focusing growth in existing urban areas, the A421 corridor, and possible new
railway stations which might be delivered through East West Rail. In the Strategy Options and Draft Policies consultation,
four spatial strategy options have been put forward, which are a short list
of strategy options following consideration of a long list in relation to
evidence and Sustainability Appraisal. The four options include a mixture of
development in and around the urban area, development on the A421 transport
corridor, rail-based growth parishes, southern and eastern parishes and two
new settlement proposals at Wyboston and/or Little Barford in the north east
of the Borough, connected to East West Rail station location options. These
new settlement proposals are included within three of the four spatial
strategy options. The council is not proposing to allocate any small sites
as they expect sufficient small sites to continue to be delivered through
windfall development. Policies relating to town centres and development
management are also included. Aspects of relevance to Greater Cambridge Given that the South Cambridgeshire and Bedford Borough
boundaries do not adjoin we consider it unlikely that the Bedford Borough
Plan would have direct impacts on our districts. However, given the possible
growth at new settlements in the north east of Bedford borough linked to East
West Rail we recommend that the Councils should highlight, at a high level,
potential strategic cross-boundary matters of relevance (under the Duty to
Cooperate) between Bedford Borough and South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge
(noting that Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire are producing a joint plan:
strategic cross-boundary matters affecting one district will have
implications for the other). We therefore propose the high-level response set
out in Appendix A below, noting ongoing uncertainties. |
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Scrutiny consideration: |
The Chair and Opposition Spokes of the Planning &
Transport Scrutiny Committee were consulted prior to the action being
authorised. |
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Report: |
Details of the background are set out in this Record of
Decision. See Appendix A below. There are no relevant financial considerations. |
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Conflicts of
interest: |
None were declared. |
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Comments: |
No comments were made by the Chair and Opposition Spokes |
Appendix
A: Proposed joint response by South Cambridgeshire District Council and
Cambridge City Council Councils to the Bedford Borough Council Draft
Plan (Regulation 18) Strategy Options and Draft Policies consultation
This response to the Bedford Borough Local Plan 2040 – Draft
Plan Strategy Options and Draft Policies Consultation is made by Greater
Cambridge Shared Planning on behalf of Cambridge City Council and South
Cambridgeshire District Council.
We support the broad approach that Bedford Borough Council
has taken to developing the emerging spatial strategy in terms of considering
carbon emissions and natural capital as integral components to inform the
preferred approach – this approach matches with the Themes in our emerging
Greater Cambridge Local Plan, which reflect our Councils’ commitments to
addressing the climate crisis and biodiversity emergency.
Given that the South Cambridgeshire and Bedford Borough
boundaries do not adjoin we consider it unlikely that the Plan would have direct
impacts on our districts. However, given the possible growth at new settlements
in the north-east of Bedford Borough linked to East West Rail, we would like to
highlight at a high-level potential strategic cross-boundary matters of
relevance (under the Duty to Cooperate) between Bedford Borough and South
Cambridgeshire and Cambridge (noting that Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire
are producing a joint plan: strategic cross-boundary matters affecting one
district will have implications for the other).
We note that three of the four emerging preferred Bedford
Borough Local Plan strategy options include a new settlement (linked to the
proposed East West Rail station at a location between St Neots and Tempsford)
at either Wyboston and/or Little Barford (2b,c,d), on the basis that these
perform well in sustainability terms, including taking into account transport
evidence findings. Beyond this, we note that the detailed sustainability
performance and deliverability of a new settlement at Wyboston and/or Little
Barford is fundamentally dependent on the preferred East West Rail route
alignment option, which has yet to be confirmed.
In this context, we would highlight that we will be
consulting on our First Proposals Greater Cambridge Local Plan in autumn 2021.
The draft papers for this consultation have been published and are now going
through committee processes. The committee
stage version of the First Proposals Plan includes Policy S/CB: Cambourne,
identifying an expanded Cambourne as a broad location for future growth in the
2030’s to respond to the opportunity that will be provided by the proposed East
West Rail that includes a station at Cambourne. We have yet to determine scale
or specific location of growth for the Cambourne area, but our overall aim is
to provide sufficient critical mass to perform the following role as a:
·
Well-connected place through high quality public
transport, cycling and walking facilities
·
South Cambridgeshire town for the 21st century
·
growing employment centre to provide local
opportunities for its residents and nearby communities
· place that meets the day to day needs of its residents.”
Further to our own plans for development connecting with
East West Rail, we note that the recently adopted Central
Bedfordshire Local Plan 2015-35 includes Policy SP1a: Partial Review of the
Local Plan, which identifies the need to review the plan within the next six
months “in order to investigate, as part of the wider statutory plan-making
processes and identify where necessary, opportunities for future growth that
can capitalise on any appropriate commitments to improve existing, or provide
new, strategic infrastructure”.
Given the above context of potential significant growth at
these possible growth locations along the proposed East West Rail route between
Bedford and Cambridge, which are also close to existing substantial settlements
including St Neots in particular, we consider that there is potential for there
to be strategic cross-boundary matters of substance between Bedford Borough,
Central Bedfordshire and South Cambridgeshire (and Cambridge), as well as with
Huntingdonshire, particularly in relation to economic roles, and transport
impacts and opportunities of these existing and potential new settlements.
Should Bedford Borough take forward strategy options including a new settlement
at Wyboston and or Little Barford via the Local Plan we would suggest that
there may be benefit in engaging with us and the other relevant partners on
these topics to support alignment of approaches.
