During a debate on new towns in the House of Commons this week, Richard informed the Minister of the various concerns which had been raised with him at last week's meeting with residents in Tempsford. He also made the point that with several significant infrastructure projects proposed in Bedfordshire, something has got to give.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Tempsford is the largest of the proposed new towns and would turn a village of 500 people into a new town of at least 40,000 homes - that is 100,000-plus people.
I informed the Minister that Tempsford is a floodplain for both the River Great Ouse and the River Ivel and local residents have for years dealt with a range of sewage overflow issues so adequate funding must be available both to provide the necessary waste water and sewage water infrastructure and to solve the existing problems. Pressure on water resources in Bedfordshire is also extensive, particularly with plans for both Universal and Tempsford and I encouraged the Minister to meet with the Chair of the Borough's Water Management Partnership, Prof. Paul Leinster, to discuss this.
Tempsford is a village that still runs on oil heating with no other power supply and residents are keen to understand whether solar and ground source heat pumps would be a prerequisite for housing in the new town. A key point for the village with a proposal for a new town of up to 100,000 people is, of course, its village identity and heritage, in particular around RAF Tempsford, and there is a lot of concern about one of the most important buildings there, Gibraltar Barn. Any plans must take account of that.
My residents are also connected to nature and wildlife. They chose to live in a rural area, and they are proud of their rural environment and it is crucial, if the Government move ahead with this proposal, that we do whatever we can to maintain the nature and wildlife of the area. There are also questions about the adequacy of road networks and the type of employment.
North Bedfordshire has seen housing growth at two and a half times the national average in recent years, and within that context of rapid growth, I stressed to the Minister that the provision of local services is of great concern among residents as people already do not have sufficient access to GP and transport services.
Finally, I made the point that the Government’s position is that new towns should not count in the 1.5million housing target total, but with local housing growth at two and a half times the national average, we are already struggling to keep up. There is no way we can plop this additional amount of housing on top of that pace of growth and expect things not to break.
Competing in a very tight geographical footprint, we already have the long-running redevelopment of Black Cat Roundabout but also a proposal for a colossal solar farm covering an area far larger than Gatwick Airport. There is no way a new town development at Tempsford or a large scale housing scheme dressed up as East West Rail can be added to that mix so I asked the Minister which project should be dropped?
You can watch Richard's contribution to the debate at https://youtu.be/jDMtPfr9wdE?si=VXMFLLl4F-48g86l
You can read more about Tempsford new town proposals at https://www.richardfuller.co.uk/campaigns/tempsford-new-town
