Plans for up to 180 new homes in Great Barford 'fly in the face' of the neighbourhood plan say objectors

Bedford Borough Council has received an outline planning application to build the new homes on land Between Addingtons Road and New Road.

The identical objections added that a different development of 500 houses proposed to the west of the village and endorsed by the neighbourhood plan had been “well received” in the village.

“Why have we gone through the process of agreeing a Neighbourhood Plan if applications for areas rejected by this process were to be approved?” they asked.

Another wrote: “The Neighbourhood Plan designates the west side of the village as the primary area for growth, concentrating development in a single location.

“This strategy ensures the easier delivery of necessary infrastructure and significant community benefits such as open space, which the proposed site lacks.”

However, the applicants said the Neighbourhood Plan Examiner’s Final Report of the Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan stated that “there is some question as to whether the full 500 homes can be delivered on this site by 2030″.

They added that if approved the development would provide a mix of dwelling types, 30 per cent will be “affordable and policy compliant”

And they said their proposal represents a “highly sustainable” form of development that would help towards delivering the growth that the Development Plan for Bedford Borough “envisages up until 2030 and beyond”.

More information can be found on the council’s planning portal, reference 24/00807/MAO. The overall consultation expiry date is Monday, June 17, 2024.

A similar plan was submitted in 2020 but this application was “not determined”, and the subsequent appeal on the non determination was withdrawn in 2021.

An outline planning application (24/00763/MAO) for up to 69 dwellings on Land West Of Addingtons Road was submitted in April and is still to be determined.