Planning

All the latest planning news from across Bedford Borough. Everything you need to keep you up to date with what’s happening in Bedford Borough on your mobile or desktop via the Bedford Independent.

The Bedford Independent was founded to provide the people of Bedford Borough with a modern news desk that would give them easy access to genuine and unbiased Bedford news. We are independent in ownership and opinion.

Our mission is to inform and inspire the people of Bedford. To do this we will work hard to bring them the news that matters to them from our town centre to the most rural of the Borough’s villages.

Our editorial team are NCTJ trained and follows a standards code set out by the independent press regulator IMPRESS Standards.

Council’s £10m to buy properties to house the homeless defended as councillor queries location

Councillors rounded on one of their colleagues when he queried how the council chooses which properties to buy to house the homeless. Bedford Council has £10million set aside to buy 80 properties to provide temporary accommodation...

Yelden village pub rescue plan dismissed as unviable

A plan to bring a dead village pub back to life by building four houses on the same site and injecting the profits into a big refurbishment have been reluctantly dismissed by councillors...

Stagsden pub house plan blocked by government inspector

A village pub near Bedford cannot be turned into a house, a planning inspector has ruled. Even though the Royal George in High Street, Stagsden, was unviable from 2012 to 2015, inspector Rachel Walmsley...

Oxford-Cambridge Arc: What will be the impact on Bedford’s economy?

In the first of a series of articles on the Oxford-Cambridge Arc (OxCam Arc), the Bedford Independent looks at the impact it could have on Bedford Borough’s economy...

“I will be unforgiving if another hurdle is placed in our way” says PCC over Greyfriars sale

A “laser like focus” will be directed at a local authority in the weeks ahead over the sale and redevelopment of a former Bedfordshire police station. Planning permission was granted by Bedford Borough Council for a change of use for the Greyfriars site...

Council seeks new deal with developers to secure future of iconic airship sheds

Council planners are in new talks with developers over a deal to secure the future of the iconic giant airship sheds in Cardington. Bedford Borough Council had in 2014 given permission for 592 homes to be built near the sheds at Shortstown on the understanding that a deal would...

You may be the jewel in the crown but your lorries are ‘devastating’, councillor tells science park

A councillor made a passionate plea for his colleagues to vote against a plan that would “devastate” Sharnbrook. The owners of Colworth Science Park to the west of the village had applied to Bedford Borough Council to build an advanced manufacturing facility and a brand new national...

Village restaurant’s pergoda plan sparks debate on when street parking becomes a ‘nuisance’

Concerned residents objected when they found that a restaurant in Wood End, near Kempston had applied to build a pergola for 40 customers. Among their concerns were that even more customers would park outside their homes in Tithe Road, to use the Cross Keys...

Office-to-flat conversion plan appeal rejected over ‘poor living standards’

A planning inspector has thrown out a developer’s attempt to convert offices to flats on the basis that they would create poor living standards. Inspector Andrew Smith also rejected Homelink Properties’ argument that Bedford Borough Council had...

Man given four months to remove log cabin family home from Bletsoe

A Bletsoe man has been given three months to move out of his log cabin home and another month to remove it from the site after losing an enforcement appeal...

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