Central Beds Council leader raises alarm over think-tank proposals to 'strip local councils of planning decisions'
The leader of Central Beds Council has slammed proposals he says would take planning decisions over land in Bedfordshire out of the hands of elected councils.
The proposals feature in a report, entitled 'Project Hawking: Tripling the size of Ox-Cam by 2050', which has been published by a ‘Labour Together’ think-tank.
It proposes creating a single self-funding development corporation for the whole region, taking planning for new development out of the hands of local authorities.
It would, according to Cllr Adam Zerny, result in a threat to democracy ‘especially given the report urges this as a useful way to 'bypass local politics'’.
He says proposals could see decisions over a huge swathe of land between Oxford and Cambridge including all of Bedfordshire, taken away from local councils.
The report also references proposals for a new town at Tempsford along with ‘a throwaway line about placing nuclear reactors in a residential area’.
One of its authors, Kane Emerson, is also an author of the controversial report urging the government to build a town big enough for 250,000 people at Tempsford.
Adam Zerny said: “It's really important that planning decisions are transparent and for this reason I feel strongly that they should be made by elected councillors who are accountable to their communities. I'd feel very uncomfortable about an unelected body making major decisions across a whole region.
"And the casual throwaway use of the idea that small nuclear reactors might be built in residential areas suggests the authors have little understanding of why people would like to live in rural Bedfordshire."
The report further states a development corporation would be self-funding and report directly to the Chancellor with local government having no formal veto.
In a Facebook post Cllr Zerny added: “Tempsford gets a specific mention: ‘We will need to build major urban extensions to Oxford and Cambridge to double their populations, as well as new towns in places like Tempsford’.”
He also highlighted a paragragh in the report which ‘might raise an eyebrow as well’.
It states: "Mum, a mid-career researcher, works in a high-paying job building engines for space travel. Dad works on carbon-sink projects in the linear national park. Their family lives in a multi-generational community with tenure-blind housing, shared green spaces, and streets that encourage civic life. Small modular reactors generate low-cost, clean energy. She cycles to work on the safest roads in the country..."
“That's right, he adds. You did witness a casual throwaway line about placing nuclear reactors in a residential area!”
Cllr Zerny says such a development corporation would also seek to take powers over roads stating it could exercise highways powers in areas it designates and impose congestion charges".
He added: “The authors are pretty dismissive of local residents with one notable passage implying that most residents can be distracted pretty easily. It states; ‘People living in the corridor are understandably nervous about lots of development. Many can be convinced it’s worth it if it means a railway station in their town, higher paying jobs and cheaper housing. Or more beautiful nature’.
“The whole report seems to see residents and elected representatives as a bit of an unnecessary aggravation. Of course, it remains to be seen how much consideration the government will give this, but it's definitely one to watch.”
Labour Together has been contacted for comment, but has not yet responded.