Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) is in the process of updating the Local Plan and as part of this, there will be a need to allocate sites for new homes and jobs, and potentially supporting infrastructure. The council's Local Plan 'Call For Sites' took place at the end of last year and they recently announced that 626 sites were put forward.
Commenting, Richard Fuller MP said:
Planning decisions are rightly a matter for local councils and councillors but my eye was drawn to the recently published lists of sites submitted for development to Central Bedfordshire Council. The “call for sites” is a standard part of a local council developing its Local Plan to help guide how to shape the future of our local environment. For years now I have been highlighting the rapid growth in households in North and Mid Bedfordshire – two and half to three times the national average – and the strain that puts on local services such as GP services or school places.
In this latest 'call for sites' I was not “surprised” that there would be many sites in the Biggleswade area submitted but I was stunned by the scale. Similarly for the Potton and Tempsford area of Bedfordshire where we are awaiting a decision by Angela Rayner if she will add further to this rapid growth of housing by selecting Tempsford as a site for a new town.
I wish our local councillors all the best in managing this pressure for further development and will work with them to highlight the need to ease the existing pressures on public services before adding to them, and to maintain the character of rural Bedfordshire even as we do “more than our fair share” of new housing.
Central Bedfordshire Council ran a ‘Call for Sites’ between November 2024 and January 2025, where they sought to identify plots of land which meet their needs for the plan period. This can include land for new homes and jobs, renewable energy and green spaces for Biodiversity Net Gain (which is a mandatory requirement for development, to increase wildlife and habitats on a site).
CBC received 626 submissions, which have now been published on their website. This is just the total number of sites that have been put forward for consideration and the council has not yet completed the analysis to allow them to understand whether these sites are suitable for the proposed use. A site assessment will be undertaken to determine each site’s suitability. Further information about this process can be found on the call for sites page of their website.
