"We don't want to be Milton Keynes": New Town proposal to transform Tempsford into "major city" slammed by council
The chairman of a parish council has hit out at a report that proposes a rural village as the ‘ideal’ site for homes for up to 350,000 people.
A report by think tank UKDayOne suggested that the rural village could be the ideal site for a new town, as the Labour government ploughs ahead with its aim to construct one-and-a-half-million new homes across the country.
But David Sutton, chair of Tempsford Parish Council, has suggested it could be a tactic to soften the blow of a potential population growth of 44,000 as part of plans for the East West Rail (EWR) project.
He said: "How real it is, is another question. Is it scaremongering to make us expect a super high number compared to where we are now? I don't know. You can see it's possible. You can see it's an easy option to build infrastructure, but you destroy everything around it."
UKDayOne has proposed building 'Tempsford New Town' at the intersection of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and planned East West Rail (EWR).
It believes that Tempsford would be the "best-connected greenfield site in Britain" for Labour to choose, with the party having "the strongest pro-building mandate of any government since Attlee".
UKDayOne states: "The Tempsford New Town could be a major city with homes for 250,000-350,000 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 Oxford, Cambridge and London."
However, Mr Sutton has slammed the plans, claiming they would "destroy everything".
He said: "It would take up all of the space from St Neots to Biggleswade - absolutely everything - Roxton, Blunham, Great Barford, Ravensden, Everton, Sandy. It would basically be a city.
"That's the size they’re talking. Every single bit of space and we have got nothing here that supports that. We already can't take the sewage, and we can't get enough doctors."
Mr Sutton explained that from October to May, two tankers were placed in the village due to heavy rainfall, as the "network couldn't cope". He also claimed that some land proposed for development is flood plain.
He added: "We've got farmers who have been here for generations - dairy farmers, crop farmers, on multi-generational leases. And we have got no food security in this country; we have got issues with Ukraine making matters worse.
"We have to support people who live in villages. Families who have lived here for hundreds of years.
"We're not NIMBYs, we're not saying we don't want anything in our backyard - but we don't want to be Milton Keynes."
Mr Sutton also criticised the report for not highlighting the importance of RAF Tempsford - an airfield used by secret agents during World War Two - which would also be earmarked for housing.
He concluded: "This village has got a soul, a heartbeat. We have this threat – is it pie in the sky, is it real – the worry is that it could be. We have to keep on our toes.
"The parish council are already on it. I have already had conversations with Central Bedfordshire Council and Richard Fuller MP, and we will do what we can."