Planning permission for this year’s Winter Wonderland at Bedford Park has been approved by councillors.
But it is “key” that a planning condition to carry out a detailed assessment of the condition of the site before equipment and materials are set up is adhered to, the planning committee chair said.
A “very, very unusual” additional Planning Committee was held last night (Tuesday, 29 October) to determine the temporary change of use of part of the park to enable the event to go ahead.
The Committee was told that planners had received 91 comments from 79 different households, with 65 objecting and 26 in support of the proposal.
After a debate on the application, which included representations from residents and the applicant, the committee chair, councillor Jonathan Abbott (Lib Dem, Clapham and Oakley) told members that this is a “fairly contentious” application.
“It has a real impact on people who live nearby, it can also have a positive impact on Bedford town as well,” he said.
“[The applicant] has made changes to the layout of the site this year, so it’s good to see they are sitting the generators in different locations, dealing with noise mitigation.
“There are lots of good things potentially associated with this.
“This is potentially going to leave a long-term temporary effect on the park and we should be concerned about that,” he said.
“We have heard positives and we’ve heard negatives this evening, and people have spoken very passionately about it.
“We’ve heard from residents and we have also heard from the applicant and his agent.
“We need to weigh this all up and make a decision,” he said.
A majority of the committee voted to grant the temporary planning permission.
Councillor Abbott said: “I am really concerned about the harm to the park, but also, I see the benefits of what this will bring to Bedford.
“It is key that the [planning] condition five is adhered to and that the agronomist report is produced and submitted to officers before anything starts on site,” he said.
This is to ensure that the “quality of the playing field is retained and there is no long-term impact”.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
