A mixed development project for up to 5,000 homes between Bedford and Milton Keynes is being recommended for approval by planning officers.
Applicant O and H Properties Limited’s outline plans for the housing and employment land in the Marston Vale were first submitted to Central Bedfordshire Council eight years ago.
The company’s proposals also include schools, retail, leisure and community facilities, and access routes on 1,448 acres of land between Brogborough, Lidlington and Marston Moretaine.
All these features are set within a network of green infrastructure and landscape improvements, according to a planning statement on behalf of the developer.
The company has a longstanding aspiration to bring forward the sustainable development of the area known as Marston Valley, said the document prepared by town planning and urban design company David Lock Associates.
This application is considered to be consistent with the strategic allocation and the adopted CBC Local Plan, as explained in a report to an extraordinary meeting of the local authority’s development management committee.
“CBC is unable to show a five-year housing land supply currently. While the properties could be built after this five-year timeframe, the application must be considered in line with planning policy,” said the report.
“This scheme would provide significant benefits through the housing and the 74 acres of employment land. It would present some harm too. The proposals are considered to amount to sustainable development.
“Planning permission should be granted unless any adverse impacts would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of approving the housing.
“Cumulative traffic impacts of the Universal Studios special development order (SDO) have been unable to be fully assessed by the applicant because of the high level and limited information submitted with the SDO application.
“Having considered all material benefits and harms resulting from the development, officers consider the application acceptable and consistent with the adopted Local Plan and the national planning policy framework.
“It’s being recommended for approval, subject to planning conditions and the completion of a Section 106 agreement.”
The land is mainly agricultural (arable) land and contains several farm buildings, according to the report.
“Historically, the site has been associated with clay extraction and brickmaking, which led to Lidlington and Brogborough lakes being created.
“Despite this previous use, the development area is considered a greenfield site for planning policy purposes. Several notable places nearby include the Marston Vale Millennium Country Park, Millbrook Proving Ground, and the Rookery South site to the east, and Prologis Park Marston Gate distribution centre to the south.
“As well as the housing and employment land, the application features a hotel, retail uses with a food store, community space, leisure and indoor sports facilities, four primary schools, and a secondary school.
“Other aspects would be playing fields, sports pitches and children’s play areas, new woodland planting, allotments, orchards, and ecological and amenity space, as well as some land reserved for parts of the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway.”
The application can be viewed in full via reference CB/18/01969/OUT on CBC’s planning portal. The committee is due to consider the development at its meeting on Thursday, 23 April.
by Euan Duncan
Local Democracy Reporter
