Biggleswade and Sandy could be "swallowed up" if Tempsford New Town plan goes ahead, warns councillor

Planned transport infrastructure projects could make the area appealing to potential developers, with the dualling of the A428 to Cambridge and the latest improvements to the Black Cat roundabout under way already.

The East West Rail link would be expected to run close to the rural village, if that transport scheme is approved eventually.

A report produced by the think tank UKDayOne suggested Tempsford and its surroundings might be ideal for a new town, while the Labour government has targeted building one-and-a-half million new homes across the country.

UKDayOne suggested: “The Tempsford new town could be a major city with homes for 250,000 to 350,000 people, larger than Oxford or Cambridge and comparable to the largest postwar new towns.

“It could also be a major employment centre, especially in life sciences, helping to relieve the acute shortages of laboratory space in Cambridge, London and Oxford.”

Town councillor Duncan Strachan raised the subject at a Biggleswade Town Council, saying: “Everyone will be aware there’s talk about a massive new town being built in Tempsford for 350,000 people.

“What are the local councils around here going to do about coordinating an approach, if this does start to materialise?”

“The impact will be immense to this area and, dare I say, Biggleswade is close enough to Temspford to be swallowed up by this new town.

“That causes me some alarm, if there’s the potential prospect of that happening. Towns such as Sandy and St Neots will almost certainly be engulfed by it.

“It would be about a quarter of the size bigger than Milton Keynes is overall, and we know how much area it encroaches over.

“Is the council going to be making any contact or has it received any approaches from other town and parish councils about the implications of this?” he asked. “And should it be something which the local councils are meeting together and holding talks about, in case it goes any further?”

Mayor Mark Foster replied: “It’s an interesting question and probably not one I can appropriately answer given the extent of the issues.

“Clearly there’s a potential for Biggleswade and the surrounding area to be directly affected. It’s perhaps a little premature until we know what’s happening.

“It’s certainly worth bearing in mind what our approach might be, as and when the time comes. But for now we should be considering that, although not actually taking any additional action.”

Town councillor Madeline Russell explained: “We did as a council support an appendix (seven) from the Central Bedfordshire Council Local Plan which was for 10,000 houses on the Tempsford aerodrome.

“I know a property company called Urban and Civic are involved with the landowners there, and are trying to get that put forward now. They’re bound to want it included in the new Local Plan.

“I think some of the (national) newspaper speculation about (homes for) 350,000 (people) is a little over the top. But we’ll wait and see what happens.”

During his election campaign, Richard Fuller MP voiced concerns that East West Rail was “predominantly a vehicle for significant additional housing growth in North Bedfordshire.”

He said: “I felt we could be looking at an extra 20,000 to 30,000 new homes however it seems I may have massively under-stated the reality.

“The new Labour Government has set out plans for substantial house building over the course of this Parliament with very large 'new towns' mooted as a way to deliver this growth.

“At least one think tank believes that Tempsford is ripe to increase from a population of around 400 to 250,000-350,000 people, although it doesn't discuss the serious implications and requirements for potentially re-routing the A1, and the already severely challenged rail service to London on the East Coast Line.

“I am meeting with the new Chief Executive of East West Rail in the next few weeks to understand what their latest plan for Tempsford is and I also have serious questions to follow up with the government about their plans for the area.”