New homes approved despite Anglian Water warning

Hundreds of homes have already been built in Shortstown in the shadow of the Cardington hangars

Plans for up to 1,100 homes have been approved despite a warning from Anglian Water of pollution to local watercourses.

Permission for the homes at Shortstown, on the outskirts of Bedford, was granted by Bedford Borough Council's planning committee on Monday.

Anglian Water had requested that a condition be imposed to delay occupation of the homes until an upgrade of Bedford water recycling centre was completed. Anna Wilson, representing the company, said that not imposing such a condition "would put the environment and our existing customers at risk".

But the committee said legal advice given to the council did not support such a condition.

The company said the water treatment works were already exceeding their permitted flow limits and that allowing an increase would create an "unacceptable risk of pollution" to local watercourses.

Ms Wilson said: "If planning consent is granted without our recommended condition, the developer could connect regardless of these constraints [to the system].

"Our proposed condition simply ensures that connections are delayed until our Bedford growth scheme is delivered.

"We are addressing capacity issues, we are not seeking to block development."

The site where the homes will be built

Anglian Water said that it had got a legal opinion confirming that such a condition would be lawful, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But the committee heard that the council had received its own legal advice, which did not support imposing the condition.

Planning officer Gavin Chinniah said planning conditions must be lawful, be proportionate and meet national policy tests, and that Anglian Water had not provided the site-specific modelling needed to justify it.

"There's been a lack of engagement from Anglian Water with the planning department. We've only had one meeting in two years," he said.

Committee chair Jonathan Abbott criticised Anglian Water's environmental performance and long-term investment decisions.

"It does frustrate me that we have a consultee who, [which] has been pointed out by a few people, pays out hundreds of millions of pounds a year in dividends, giving bonuses to people who pollute our rivers.

"I appreciate you don't want to do further damage. [But] you should be, in my view, investing properly and you should have been investing properly for a long time."

Anglian Water has been contacted for comment.