The Liberal Democrats’ catastrophic handling of the Local Plan 2040 has the potential to leave communities across the Borough devastated.

The alarm was first sounded after the Planning Inspector sent back the former Lib Dem Mayor Dave Hodgson’s Local Plan 2040 for a second time on the 23rd November 2023. 

In a letter to Bedford Council, the Planning Inspector gave that Local Plan a damning conclusion citing “fundamental concerns about the soundness” due to a lack of strategic rigor, inadequate infrastructure planning and inability to deliver a vision for sustainable growth for the Borough.

Specifically, the Inspector slammed:

• The naïve delivery projections for Little Barford and Kempston Hardwick housing developments, noting the timescales were too optimistic, and not based on “justified assumptions that are soundly based”.
• The unrealistic timescales for infrastructure projects to upgrade junctions on the A421, despite the Inspector stating that stakeholder activity lent support that the A421 road works “could be delivered”.
• Destruction of our environment with proposals near Elstow being found to be in conflict with national policy due to the likely harm to the historical setting and a lack of justification for that development meaning the “development would result in harm to setting”.

The dire consequences of the Liberal Democrats failure now loom large over residents with severe uncertainty about the Borough Council’s future planning integrity. 

The Conservative Mayor, Tom Wootton and his cabinet have vowed to limit the damage caused by the years of Liberal Democrat planning chaos. However, any solution leaves little room for quick wins or easy solutions.

Mayor for Bedford Borough Tom Wootton commented,

“We are being forced to look at more land for development because of the previous failure to plan properly, it has created significant and unnecessary uncertainty for communities across the Borough. The situation we have inherited is incredibly difficult with no easy answers, or easy solutions and like us many residents will be understandably disappointed potential developments as result of the Lib Dems flawed Local Plan 2040.”

 

Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Planning & Prosperity, Councillor Andrea Spice commented,

“Time and again the feeble leadership of the Liberal Democrats has thrown our Borough into chaos.

The Local Plan was slammed by the Planning Inspector for being “unsound” citing all the issues residents, Parishes and Councillors have previously raised, such as a lack of infrastructure and inadequate forward planning.

Combined with the additional £1m bill to taxpayers – the Liberal Democrats have left the Borough in an absolutely disastrous situation.

Bedford’s residents deserve better - The Conservative Mayor and his cabinet will again be picking up the pieces of the Liberal Democrats failure, as we seek to repair the damage done by our predecessors.”