One near Twinwoods near Milton Ernest and the other created through the development of Sharnbrook village. A further new town has been proposed in Wyboston near St Neots.

The developments, which were put forward in the run up to Christmas, and released last month by the Council as part of its “call for sites”, are now being considered as part of Bedford Borough Council’s Local Plan 2032 process.

Gerry Sansom, Chair of CPRE Bedfordshire, said: “These new settlements are being promoted by developers as new villages but they are in fact far bigger than that. The Twinwoods proposal is for between 4,000 and 6,000 new homes plus a retail centre and industrial units. This means that it is in fact a new town with a predicted population of between 6,000 and 14,000 people - bigger in size than Flitwick or Ampthill.

“A new town of this size and scale in rural North Bedfordshire will have a massive impact on the surrounding villages and on Bedford itself. There will be a huge increase in the number of cars and commercial vehicles using the rural road network. It would be naive to think that any community in North Bedfordshire would be immune from the impact of these appalling proposals.  The main road systems in and around Bedford are also already at capacity levels during peak times so these proposals are simply unsustainable.”

In its comments on Bedford Borough Council’s draft Local Plan 2032 CPRE Bedfordshire claimed that there is no proven need for this level of development, and that the 13,000 new homes already provided with outline or full planning permission by Bedford Borough Council are more than enough to satisfy the housing needs of local people till 2032.

The Sharnbrook proposal is for 2,500 new homes on land surrounding the Colworth research site and science park. This will more than double the size of Sharnbrook and transform it into a town with in excess of 3,500 homes. At Wyboston a 256 hectare site is proposed for a new town of 4,000 homes.