Bedford Borough Council local plan approved after new village scrapped

Sharnbrook could see 500 new homes under the proposals

Plans for thousands of new homes have moved a step closer after councillors recommended their adoption.

Bedford Borough Council's revised local plan, including proposals for just over 4,000 homes, was approved by the authority's executive.

They include 2,000 homes in the urban area, 500 each in Sharnbrook, Bromham, Clapham and Great Barford, and 260 shared between seven smaller villages.

The plan is due to go before the full council next week.

It was revised after earlier plans for a new village were dropped.

The Colworth Garden Village scheme, comprising 4,500 homes near Santa Pod Raceway, Podington, was withdrawn in 2018 over noise concerns.

A report to the council found the drag racing track and developers Wrenbridge could not deliver a range of noise mitigation measures.

The new plan says that after existing planning permission has been taken into account, a minimum of 3,169 new homes must be provided to ensure that the "objectively assessed need for housing of 14,550 homes in the period 2015-30 will be met".

The elected Liberal Democrat Mayor of Bedford, David Hodgson, said that although the number of homes was fewer than in the previous plan, the period it covered was five years shorter.

"We must submit a new plan in three years and the numbers that the government say we need are likely to go up as well," he said.

"When the local plan is adopted, its policies will carry full weight when making planning decisions and empower the council's planning committee to make decisions based on the needs of the borough rather than national needs outlined by the government."