Grace Community Church’s hybrid planning application, seeking full permission to build a church and outline permission for 79 houses on a site by Cemetery Road in Kempston, has finally been refused under officers’ delegated powers.
This decision comes as a great relief to many in Kempston West and the wider community.
Read: Council refuses planning consent for Kempston community hub
There has been widespread engagement in the planning process by residents, town and parish councillors, and community organisations, and more than 400 formal objections were submitted.
From the outset, the application was controversial. Its stated aim was to provide Grace Church with a permanent place of worship to replace its current rented premises. Had the proposal stopped there, I might not have opposed it.
However, it went much further.
The proposed site lies on Grade 2 and partly Grade 3 floodplain land. Gifted to the church by the landowner, Bedfordia, it is located just upstream of Church Walk and Water Lane, both of which have suffered serious flooding in recent years that is becoming more frequent and more severe.
Despite the land being gifted, the church argued that a housing estate was required to fund, or “enable”, the church building.
The result would have been a large built footprint consisting of a church, 79 expensive houses, for which the church disclaimed any responsibility for providing an affordable proportion, and a substantial car park.
Support from outside the Borough
All of this would have been placed on valued urban open space that is used and enjoyed by the whole community.
The planning application presented the proposed church as a “community hub”, based on the claimed need to improve community facilities in the area.
This became a major dividing line. Opponents pointed to the many community facilities, churches, and charities that already exist in Kempston, providing meeting spaces and support for the poor and needy.
Additional community space is welcome, most would agree, but not at the cost of building an unwanted housing estate on valued open land situated on a floodplain.
Supporters of the application generally referred to the church’s good works and their positive personal experiences.
However, planning officers noted that while 83 per cent of objectors lived in Kempston, only a minority of supporters did so, and nearly half came from outside Bedford Borough.
This raises questions about how far the church, in pursuing its case, truly represented local community interests.
Having lost in the planning process, the church presumably has the right to appeal to the Secretary of State. I hope they do not take this step. There has already been enough bitterness and division in what is otherwise a peaceful neighbourhood.
Churches should be community first
Churches are vital to community life, and I would much prefer to work with them constructively. At a public meeting in 2021, I asked church representatives not to proceed with a planning application, suggesting it would do more harm than good.
In my letter to the Bedford Independent in November 2024, I wrote, “Battle lines are being drawn up. I’ll be there to represent local residents. But I say to the church, is this what you really want?”
Read: Letters: Grace Church, is dividing the community what you really wanted?
As Grace Community Church considers whether to appeal, I ask once again that it puts the community first and allows this matter to rest.
Cllr James Valentine,
Labour Borough Councillor, Kempston West.
Editor’s note: Cllr Valentine writes this letter as ward councillor for Kempston West. It is not written on behalf of the Council’s Labour Group, nor are they responsible for the content.
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