This page originally dealt with submissions for new housing development on land in the parish of Biddenham made for inclusion in Bedford Borough Council’s Local Plan for the period up to 2032.

Following a process of consultation but also a reassessment of housing requirements, the period to be covered by the Local Plan was extended to 2035 and revised documents were issued for consultation.

Following that further period of consultation in 2017 and consideration of the comments received, the Borough Council published its revised proposals for a final period of public consultation concluding on 5 March 2018 before the Local Plan 2035 is then submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

Two sites in Biddenham are included in this final draft Plan, what are described in the draft as Policy 19 which is land at Gold Lane, the most substantial area of land and considered to have capacity for 160 houses (site 23 as shown in the earlier photographs below), and Policy 23 which is land at the rear of Bromham Road considered to have capacity for 27 houses (sites 25 and 26 below).

The Parish Council is contacting every home in Biddenham asking residents to respond to this final draft Local Plan with the aim of retaining the longstanding protection of the open spaces around Biddenham that create the visual separation between Biddenham and Bromham, Great Denham and Bedford. That protection is currently provided by Policy AD42 enshrined in the most recently published Allocations and Designations Local Plan of July 2013. Policies 19 and 23 would do away with the protection currently afforded by AD42.

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An extract from our previous report on the Local Plan 2032 follows. This includes the numbering and photographs of the ten sites then proposed for development. Plan 2035 initially retained  essentially the site numbers in Plan 2032 but, as reported above, in the latest and final draft iteration of Plan 2035 sites are now described by Policy numbers.

As was the case in the previous draft Plan 2035 only two of the ten sites in Biddenham originally submitted by landowners and developers are included in the final draft of Plan 2035. These two are detailed above with reference to the relevant photographs below:

Extract from our report on Plan 2032

The submissions cover together most of the remaining green spaces of any size in the village. Should any of them be included in the plan approved by the Council and eventually developed, those open spaces would be lost to the village forever. We don’t know yet whether all, some or none of these areas of land will be included in the plan. Even if none are included, they may well be resurrected when the plan for the period after 2032 is formulated.

Which is why a visual record of those sites today is so important. Photographs taken to date are included below. Not all the areas are easily accessible for photographs to be taken and so some for the time being have photographs indicating the location of rather than the area of land itself. 

Site 20 – land at 21 – 41 Church End

Site 21 – land at 29 Day’s Lane

The area of land itself has not been photographed – it is behind the hedges shown in these photographs

Site 22 – land at Bromham Road

Similarly, the area of land concerned is behind the hedge shown in these photographs

Site 23 – land at Gold Lane

The plan submitted for this site shows that it comprises large areas of land which are also shown on the plans for sites 28 and 29. Photographs of the remaining areas of land in those sites which are not included in site 23 are shown below under site 28 and site 29

Site 24 – land east of Vicars Close

Site 25 – Tree Tops 2, Bromham Road

The area of land concerned is to the rear of the properties shown in this photograph

Site 26 – Tree Tops, Bromham Road

The area of land concerned is to the rear of these properties

Site 27 – land off Vicars Close

Site 28 – land at Green Farm

Site 29 – land at Green Farm, site 2