INTRODUCTION / BOROUGH STRATEGY / NATURAL ENVIRONMENT / BUILT ENVIRONMENT HOUSING / EMPLOYMENT & TOURISM / SHOPPING / BEDFORD TOWN CENTRE TRANSPORT / LEISURE & RECREATION / UTILITIES & TELECOMS / IMPLEMENTATION AIMS, OBJECTIVES & POLICIES / PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL / OPPORTUNITY SITES / GLOSSARY / PROPOSALS MAPS BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN THIS WRITTEN STATEMENT AND THE ACCOMPANYING PROPOSALS MAP IS THE STATUTORY LOCAL PLAN FOR THE BOROUGH OF BEDFORD. IT WAS ADOPTED BY THE BOROUGH COUNCIL ON 20TH OCTOBER 2002. THE LOCAL PLAN SETS THE PATTERN AND CHARACTER OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE BOROUGH AND PROVIDES THE BASIS THAT THE COUNCIL WILL USE FOR DETERMINING PLANNING APPLICATIONS. THE PROCESS OF PREPARING THE LOCAL PLAN HAS INVOLVED THE PUBLICATION OF CONSULTATION AND DEPOSIT DRAFT PLANS, EXTENSIVE TECHNICAL AND COMMUNITY CONSULTATIONS AND A YEAR LONG PUBLIC INQUIRY AT WHICH AN INDEPENDENT INSPECTOR CONSIDERED OVER 2300 OBJECTIONS. HIS RECOMMENDATIONS WERE CONSIDERED BY THE COUNCIL AND MOSTLY CARRIED FORWARD INTO THIS DOCUMENT. The Local Plan has been prepared by the Policy Team within the Planning Services Group with the assistance of colleagues in other sections of the Borough Council. The Team wishes to acknowledge the help and encouragement provided by many Parish Councils, other organisations and individuals during its preparation. The Local Plan may be viewed on the Council’s website: www.bedford.gov.uk/planning Copies of the Local Plan may be obtained at a price of £25.00 or £30.00 by post from the Planning Support Team at the address below. David K Bailey, BSc DIPTP MRTPI, Head of Planning Services Town Hall, St Paul’s Square, Bedford MK40 1SJ Telephone: 01234 267422 Facsimile 01234 221606 E-mail: [email protected] © Copyright Reserved Bedford Borough Council 2002 Maps are based on the Ordnance Survey Map with the permission of the Controller of HMSO Crown Copyright Reserved – Licence No. LA 077127 BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 CONTENTS BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 CONTENTS CHAPTERS 1 Introduction page 1 2 Borough Strategy 3 3 Natural Environment 15 4 Built Environment 29 5 Housing 47 6 Employment & Tourism 73 7 Shopping 87 8 Bedford Town Centre 99 9 Transport 109 10 Leisure & Recreation 121 11 Utilities & Telecoms 133 12 Implementation 137 APPENDICES A Aims, Objectives & Policies 140 B Performance Indicators 147 C Environmental Appraisal 155 D Opportunity Sites 173 GLOSSARY 183 PROPOSALS MAPS Insets to the Proposals Map 191 Borough, Bedford & Kempston Inset (in pocket) 9 i BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 ii 1 INTRODUCTION / BOROUGH STRATEGY / NATURAL ENVIRONMENT / BUILT ENVIRONMENT HOUSING / EMPLOYMENT & TOURISM / SHOPPING / BEDFORD TOWN CENTRE TRANSPORT / LEISURE & RECREATION / UTILITIES & TELECOMS / IMPLEMENTATION AIMS, OBJECTIVES & POLICIES / PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL / OPPORTUNITY SITES / GLOSSARY / PROPOSALS MAPS BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN OCTOBER 2002 1 / INTRODUCTION BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 1 / INTRODUCTION BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 1 / INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Local Plan is an important tool and reference and the Deposit Draft Bedford Borough Local Plan was document that will help the Borough Council guide placed on deposit in February 1997. Over 2,300 development, and assess proposals that are submitted objections and supporting representations were received as planning applications. It sets out a wide range of and considered by the Council. Those objections which policies and proposals positively to encourage could not be resolved were considered at a Local Plan development to occur in suitable forms and locations Inquiry which was held between February 1999 and with the aim of improving the quality, convenience and January 2000. The Inquiry was conducted by an sustainability of the environment in which we live and independent Inspector, Mr C J Hoile MA(Oxon), DipTP, work. MRTPI and his report was published in May 2001. 1.2 The preparation, structure and scope of the Local Plan is 1.7 The Inspector’s report included a large number of consistent with the national guidelines provided by recommendations which have been considered very various Acts of Parliament, Circulars and Regulations. It carefully by the Council. As a result, the Council has been prepared in the context of corporate ‘Aims and published Proposed Modifications in September 2001 Objectives’ and supports the various other strategies and these too attracted objections and supporting being pursued by the Borough Council. Thus its content representations. All of these were considered fully and direction is firmly based on local conditions, needs before the Council resolved to adopt the Local Plan. The and aspirations although to some extent the full effect Notice of Adoption was published on 20th October 2002. of these on the Plan may be restrained by national policy and the policies of the County Council. 1.3 The Deposit Draft County Structure Plan 2011 was published at the same time as the Consultation Draft of this Borough Local Plan and has subsequently been adopted. This together with the results of public consultation, has prompted changes in the Borough Local Plan including the extension of the period covered by this Local Plan to 2006. Links to the previous 3rd Alterations Structure Plan are therefore superseded. The impact and scale of such changes was to a degree anticipated by the Consultation Draft Local Plan in so far as the ultimate capacity of identified housing sites exceeded the requirement to 2001 and were in any case fully consistent with Regional Planning Guidance for the South East (RPG9). 1.4 The preparation of the plan has been guided by an ongoing environmental appraisal which started by looking at a structured set of aims and objectives from which detailed policies and proposals have been formulated. These demonstrate the overall direction of the plan and what it seeks to achieve. Inevitably the scope for a planning and land use document to make dramatic change during the plan period is limited, but it is nevertheless important to make progress toward improving social and economic conditions and both the local and global environment. 1.5 In addition the plan builds on the former adopted Bedford Borough Local Plan 1993, rolling forward the development requirement and expanding on key areas of policy, for example those affecting the environment. 1.6 The process of preparing the Local Plan has followed a number of specific steps that are designed to ensure that local people and a wide range of interests have contributed to and influenced the plan, its policies and proposals. The Consultation Draft Borough Local Plan was published in February 1995. That document was revised 1 1 / INTRODUCTION BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 2 2 INTRODUCTION / BOROUGH STRATEGY / NATURAL ENVIRONMENT / BUILT ENVIRONMENT HOUSING / EMPLOYMENT & TOURISM / SHOPPING / BEDFORD TOWN CENTRE TRANSPORT / LEISURE & RECREATION / UTILITIES & TELECOMS / IMPLEMENTATION AIMS, OBJECTIVES & POLICIES / PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL / OPPORTUNITY SITES / GLOSSARY / PROPOSALS MAPS BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN OCTOBER 2002 2 / BOROUGH STRATEGY BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 BOROUGH STRATEGY POLICIES Policy S1 Urban priority Policy S2 Opportunity sites Policy S3 Urban area boundary Policy S4 South West Bedford Strategic Corridor Policy S5 Marston Vale Policy S6 Settlement Policy Areas Policy S7 Rural settlement hierarchy Policy S8 Supplementary Planning Guidance Policy S9 Facilities in tandem with development 4 2 / BOROUGH STRATEGY BEDFORD BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN – 2002 2 / BOROUGH STRATEGY 2.1 This chapter has three main purposes, it examines the Bedfordshire. Thirdly, regional guidance identifies the context for the Local Plan, it explains the overall strategy Marston Vale area (which straddles the boundary with that is being pursued and it sets out a series of general Mid Bedfordshire) as a regional resource and gives policies that apply across the other chapters. support for a strategy for the development, restoration and environmental improvement of the area in CONTEXT association with continued landfill and brick making activities. 2.2 The new Borough Local Plan is set within a well defined context provided by Government and County TRANSPORT INVESTMENT PROGRAMMES policies. It is prepared taking account of local 2.6 In the context of relatively poor local levels of circumstances and the relevant legislation, including strategic accessibility and resulting congestion, which national planning guidance embodied in Planning Policy in turn act as serious investment disincentives, the Guidance Notes, and Circulars and is in accordance with content of current transport investment programmes official Regulations and Orders. In particular, Planning and the scale of public and private funding initiatives Policy Guidance Note No. 12 ‘Development Plans & are particularly important, since these will influence Regional Planning Guidance’ has been used to decide the strategy of this local plan. It is increasingly clear the scope and format of the Local Plan, and guides that assumptions underlying regional and county the environmental appraisal of the Plan’s policies strategies about the scale of development proposed and proposals. and the programmed availability of infrastructural investment required to service this level of growth, 2.3 This context is extremely broad and often quite are out of step. The result is potentially, a growing detailed. However,