Biggleswade Eastern homes plan prompts traffic debate

Jacqui Edwards has echoed concerns of Central Beds Councillors Dr Hayley Whitaker and Adam Zerny, who both recently questioned the timing of the application.

The outline application, submitted by UK Regeneration, was granted in March 2019, with a revised outline application having been submitted on March 24 to address access points to the sites.

Jacqui claimed: “The CBC planning committee has been suspended so there is no longer the opportunity for the public to attend the meeting and comment.

“If delegated powers are enacted by CBC it could mean that important planning decisions are not taken by elected councillors which in part make up the planning committee, but by planning officers. This can’t be right.”

She added: “There is one major difference to this new application which relates to a proposed new link road leading from the estate on to Dunton Lane. Dunton Lane is a country road and would not be able to accommodate the vastly increased traffic that a 1,500 housing development would bring.”

A CBC spokesperson said: “Government advice is that where possible council activities should continue subject to social distancing and other measures. We have also been given specific government advice to maintain a functioning planning service. In doing this we will continue to ensure that all decisions we make are robust and meet the requirements of legislation.”

A UK Regeneration spokeswoman, said: “UKR is very committed to community consultation, having undertaken 10 weeks of this during the course of our last planning application process. We are now looking at alternative ways of consulting with Biggleswade residents during the lockdown to reach out to people. UKR would always prefer to be determined at committee, rather than under delegated powers, but we will also always be guided by planning law (including the emergency provisions under the Coronavirus Act). We assume that, whatever is decided will take into account that UKR already has a consent on this site.

“UKR has undertaken extensive transport modelling and can demonstrate that there will be no increase in traffic (further than that from the previous permission).”

Visit the CBC website and search for: CB/20/00959/OUT