New Housing - Background

National Government, following the advice from Kate Barker, advisor to The Treasury, set the housing numbers of 26,000 by 2021 and 43,000 by 2031 for South Bedfordshire. It has also set housing numbers by 2021 of 44,000 for Milton Keynes, 15,000 for Aylesbury, 19,000 for Mid Bedfordshire, 30,000 in Northampton, 34,100 for Corby, Wellingborough, and Kettering.

see housing table

The numbers are too great for the environmental limits of this area. Who is responsible? Who has the power to change things? Who should you talk to? National Government set the numbers - not the council - so go national!  Your local Councillors do not have the power to reduce the numbers, but they have the power to make new development benefit us all.

1. Contact your MP (Andrew Selous, MP for SW Beds) Will the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats reduce the numbers if they get power? Ask him why you should believe him? Did David Cameron talk about the housing numbers in the Tory party conference?

2. Demonstrate against the Treasury. Would you be up for helping with organising or attending this? There are many very strong anti-housing groups across the Eastern region and the SE.  If we all joined together it would be very powerful and we could start getting the issue in the national press. Have you got time to help/liaise with other groups?

3. Judicial Reviewing the Government. South Beds FoE is working on a legal case to challenge the housing numbers, using European Environmental laws. Have you got time to help fund raise for expert advice, and do some research?

South Beds Friends of the Earth believe that some limited developments built to very high standards can improve and support the town. They can bring more people to the town centre; we could get better shops and facilities; they can support better bus services and more green spaces. They also provide much needed social housing.

THIS IS A KEY TIME offering an opportunity to get involved in saving Leighton Buzzard and really making it a better place to live, by using the planning system. 

Pages Field was protected in the Local Plan, and this reason along with the amazing public demonstrations is the reason that it was saved.

The Millers Dairy development by the Canal Bridge would have meant that the pavement by the Wing Road and the canal bridge would have been even narrower and even more dangerous for people with pushchairs. However the planning policies in the local plan were strong enough that the council could say not to it. Even if the developer goes to the high court, they cannot win, as the policies about increasing access for pedestrians are so strong.

New Linslade Wood was saved by Tree Preservation Orders being placed on the trees by a sub-group of the planning committee of South Beds District council.

For more details on the successes of the planning system and the successes of consultation across the country, see national friends of the Earth http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/listen_up.pdf  (examples are half way through document)

At a local level; how to get involved in the plans for Leighton-Linslade

The new plans of the area are called the Local Development Frameworks (LDFs). They will cover all areas of life in South Beds. These include the Green Belt Review, which will decide which bits of green belt are released for housing and which bits are saved, and the most important document of all, the Core Strategy.

The ‘Core Strategy’ will cover all the major issues for Leighton Buzzard, supporting the town centre, encouraging more shops, dealing with congestion and providing decent public transport so that old people can get out in the evenings, saving our green spaces, creating more green spaces and wildlife habitats, leisure facilities such as a cinema in Leighton, or a bowling alley, renewable energy and the highest levels of energy efficiency in the new housing.

The Issues and Options paper of the Core Strategy will be produced next spring and will go to public consultation.

This means that the district council will draw up various ideas and then will ask you which you prefer. It is very good to get your ideas for Leighton Buzzard to them before they start drawing up the plans so that you influence it from the start.

Once they have started to write it down, even though they are coming up with different options, something really important to you might be left out. The Core Strategy (as will the other local development frameworks) will go to full consultation with the public and stakeholders. This will mean workshops in the evenings and public exhibitions. All your comments will be noted and considered. The plans will have to show that the council has listened to the community in some ways if not in all ways. Then the plans will be finalised by the council and will be voted for by the councillors and will then go before an independent planning inspector.  Anyone who has participated in the consultation has a right to be heard by the Planning Inspector if they disagree with the plans.

All the Local Development Frameworks have to pass a test of ‘soundness’. This means that they have to be based on good evidence, they have to fit in with national planning policies and statements and they have to show that they have listened to the voice of the community. If they do not do any of these things fully the planning inspector can refuse to pass the plan and council has to start work from scratch again.

What we can ask for

Be positive about the things that are most important to you and what you think would really improve Leighton Buzzard, without too much money. You have much more chance of getting successes if you approach it from this angle.

Transport

Congestion is clogging the town, the bus services do not exist in the evenings so that elderly people cannot come into town. We need really good public transport with buses running every 10-15 minutes, safe cycle-ways and we need to tackle the school run to reduce congestion. Make walking such a pleasant alternative that taking a car is more hassle. This will make people’s lives easier and bring more people into the town centre and that will mean more & better shops and more activities in the evening for both old people and young people, therefore bringing a much stronger sense of community.

Green Spaces

We need to preserve our present green spaces, like Linslade wood and Pages Field. We need many more areas that we love around Leighton Linslade and we need to create more woods and green spaces so that we can access the countryside and our children can have somewhere to play and we can support our wildlife. There are huge health benefits in having access to green space.

Town centre

The town centre is dying. The bookshop, model shop and toy shop closed over the summer & stalls are closing in the market. Business rates are very high, congestion stops people coming in to town.  The buses into town are very poor, particularly in the afternoon.  The market and the local shops really help make up the character of Leighton, South Beds FoE would ask the area to be pedestrianised as that has really helped in other towns.  Lots of publicity about the shops and local activities delivered to all the new estates, cutting business rates and serious work to get a cinema into the town, and a bowling alley for young people. We need first class transport if we are to get people into the town centre.  Some new development can bring new people into the town centre and so support a good range of shops. For more details see FoE’s briefing on town centres and retail.

Retail Policy & LDFs

Energy efficiency

Any new homes should be built to a high standard of insulation and should have renewable energy. Many councils such as Woking and Merton in London are leading the way on this. In Braintree in Essex people get a reduction in council tax if they insulate their homes.

FoE’s briefing on tackling Climate Change in LDFs

Planning is one vital tool but to save Leighton Buzzard you also need to tell your councillor what you want

Your councillor is your elected representative. He or she makes the decisions. The council officers are paid experts. They produce the reports and have the expertise and some of the officers are really good in the councils and we are very lucky.  However they can only advise the councillors. They cannot decide how the money is spent or what is most important. It is the councillors who make those decisions. So you have to tell your councillor what is most important to you. The better relation ship that you have with councillors and with Council officers the more chance you have of success in improving Leighton. Ranting may make you feel good and is often very justified, but it rarely makes people change things for the better. Most of the time they just hear the professional moaners, and people complaining about street lights. They need to realise what local people think. They can always be voted out at the next election of they do not listen.

The district councillors are in charge of drawing up the Local development frameworks, the future plans for the area. We each have a district councillor who represents our ward (like an MP), so ring the district council to find out who they are and what their contact details are. Then you need to talk positively to them so they realise what people want.

County councillors deal with transport over the whole county. The policies in the core strategy of the LDFs on transport are very important, but the county council is also really important, as they have the funding for buses, traffic lights, school travel plans etc. So you need to talk to your county councillor as well.

The town council is producing a town plan and there has been lots of consultation the town plan will inform the LDFs and give it lots of valuable information, but the core strategy of the LDF is much more important than the town plan.

Each council has different responsibilities although there are lots of overlaps, here is a very simplified summary

FoE provides a detailed briefing on all the issues that can be covered in the LDFs and says what FoE would want which is to reduce CO2 emissions and really improve everybody’s quality of life

Local Development Frameworks

For more details on the

planning system FoE has detailed explanations and diagrams

Planning System overview

Or ask Victoria Harvey

on 01525 385097 or email vharvey@btopenworld.com

National

Friends of the Earth

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