Public meeting at crucial time for our countryside

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Public meeting at crucial time for our countryside

Public meeting at crucial time for our countryside

Bedfordshire local plans forum Pam Groom

This year, local plans are being progressed by Bedfordshire's local authorities - Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council and Luton Borough Council - plus neighbouring Milton Keynes – that will set the level and shape of development in our towns and countryside for the next 15 years or so.

On 23rd April, CPRE Bedfordshire ran a Bedfordshire local plans forum to let people know that now is a key moment for them to have their say on the future of Bedfordshire's countryside.

Attendees at the meeting discussed the drivers that are impacting the high levels of housing need being proposed by the local plans, including the lack of clarity in government guidance pushing local authorities to provide for aspiration rather than local need – meaning that “Strategic Housing Market Assessment” (SHMA) contains highly inflated, unachievable housing numbers.

The meeting also painted the bigger picture of the impact of recent government initiatives influencing the direction of development in our county, including:

The government’s paper “Locally–Led Garden Villages” March 2016, asking local authorities to advise on sites for garden villages from 1,500 to 10,000 homes and offering access to substantial additional funding.
The government’s paper 2016 “Starter Homes – Unlocking the Land Fund” The 2015 spending review provided £2.5 billion for this.
Local enterprise partnerships – SEMLEP – driving development across the south east midlands region, despite no local accountability.
Proposals to develop the Oxford - Milton Keynes - Cambridge corridor, of which road and rail schemes form a significant part.

Gerry Sansom, CPRE Bedfordshire’s Chair, said: “Now is a pivotal moment for how our county’s towns and countryside will develop - all development in Bedfordshire in the next 15 years will be informed by the local plans now being developed by Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton as well as neighbouring Milton Keynes - and now is the time that people have a chance to get involved.

“We hope that having attended the forum, people will better understand how crucial it is to get involved in their local plan processes, and how CPRE Bedfordshire can help them to do this."

Attendees also had the opportunity to sign-up to receive updates on local plan consultations and CPRE Bedfordshire’s consultation responses, plus were urged to speak to their local politicians about plans in their local areas. The Bedfordshire local plans forum was held on Saturday 23rd April at 3pm at Parkside Hall in Ampthill, and followed CPRE Bedfordshire’s AGM.