Central Bedfordshire Council has approved a major planning application for a mixed-use residential-led development of nearly 2,000 new homes to the west of Bidwell, as part of a larger urban extension to the north of Houghton Regis.
Following an extensive two year public engagement and successful pre-application advice with the local planning authority through a planning performance agreement, the outline ‘hybrid’ application was submitted. The proposed scheme occupies some 166 hectares of green belt land and will provide a mixed use scheme for the delivery of up to 1,850 dwellings including 555 affordable units.
There will also be two hectares of employment land, a local retail centre, schools school and community centre and an extensive network of green infrastructure and open space incorporating sports pitches, sustainable urban drainage, heritage trail, play areas an urban park along with the protection and enhancement of the area’s Site of Special Scientific Interest, a former quarry.
The application is subject to call in by the Secretary of State before the s106 legal agreement can be completed prior to issue of the formal planning permission.
The village of Bidwell lies in the firing line of the development. The planning report acknowledged that the site was wholly within the green belt north-west of the Houghton Regis settlement boundary.
The report said: “The application site would be harmful to the green belt due to its inappropriateness and its impact on openness.
“There would be a degree of related harm due to the loss of agricultural land within the historic landscape setting of the Thorn Spring Scheduled Monument.”
The report said that substantial weight was attached to any green belt harm.
However, it added that there were very special circumstances that “clearly outweigh” this harm.
This included the major contribution the development would make to meeting urgent housing and employment needs; and a body of evidence supporting the site as suitable for sustainable mixed-use development.
Houghton Regis Town Council, Luton Borough Council and Sundon Parish Council had objected to the application.
The Chiltern Society insisted the development did not represent the exceptional circumstances required under the National Planning Policy Framework.
But the officer’s report said that the applicant had made its case for very special circumstances in favour of the scheme on the basis of six points, including that the site was “identified within the emerging Central Bedfordshire Development Strategy for allocation and removal from the green belt for development for an urban extension of Houghton Regis to meet urgent need”.
The scheme was approved subject to various conditions and a final green light from the secretary of state.
Will there be an urban extension affecting the village where you are proposing to buy? Will that rural idyll remain that way?
Ask your solicitor to undertake more detailed planning searches by getting a DevAssess report – the only way to really understand how land use zoning may affect house values and development opportunity in the future.
For more information call 01342 890010 or email info@dev-assist.co.uk
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
inShare
- Second secretary of state refusal for green belt incinerator scheme
- Parish council takes fight against affordable housing scheme to High Court
- Council suffers fresh setback in bid to halt green belt rail freight terminal
- Plans approved for second phase of 10,000-home Cambridgeshire new town
- Court of Appeal rejects legal challenge against Central Bedfordshire urban extension
HAVE YOUR SAY…
Before commenting please read our rules for commenting on articles.
If you see a comment you find offensive, you can flag it as inappropriate. In the top right-hand corner of an individual comment, you will see ‘flag as inappropriate’. Clicking this prompts us to review the comment. For further information see our rules for commenting on articles.
- Planning ConsultantsMacdonald & Co Devon
- PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT OFFICER Wycombe District Council High Wycombe
- Senior Planning Officer (Development Control)Daventry District Council Daventry District
- Principal Planner (Major Applications), Development ManagementThurrock Council West Thurrock, Grays
- Consultant Planner & Planner/Urban DesignerJB Planning Associates Stevenage, Hertfordshire
